An unnamed Iranian source told CNN on March 24 that there had indeed been outreach between the U.S. and Iran and that Iran is ready to listen to any reasonable peace proposals. “There has been outreach between the United States and Iran, initiated by Washington, in recent days, but nothing that has reached the level of full-on negotiations,” the source said. “Messages have been received through various intermediaries to scope out whether an agreement to end the war can be reached.”
“The proposals being looked at are aimed not merely at achieving a ceasefire, but a concrete agreement to end the conflict between the U.S. and Iran,” they added without going into further detail.
According to news reports the trio of Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkiye mediated the outreach by passing messages between the two sides, involving White House envoy Steve Witkoff on the U.S. side and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. The trio is being given credit for heading off Trump’s 48-hour ultimatum on March 23.
