The Iranian Foreign Ministry has rejected claims made in an Axios story posted on Sunday on an alleged back channel outreach by the Trump Administration to the IRGC. Axios journalist Barak Ravid, citing sources “with direct knowledge” of the events described, wrote that the Trump Administration sought back channel contact with the IRGC in an effort to find it of the IRGC leadership supported Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s mediated diplomacy with the US. The answer that came back was yes, the IRGC did support the efforts of Qalibaf and Araghchi.
According to the Axios account, then-DNI Tulsi Gabbard reached out to Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan region in Iraq, in May. Barzani “had something very few others do: the trust of both U.S. and IRGC leaders,” Ravid reports. “Gabbard told Barzani that the administration thought he could help get in touch with the commander of the IRGC, Gen. Ahmad Vahidi.”
After Barzani got the initial message from Vahidi that the IRGC was squarely behind Qalibaf and Araghchi, the US side proposed that he host a secret meeting in Erbil between senior US and IRGC officials, Ravid goes on. The IRGC was not opposed to such a meeting but expressed concern about the threat of assassination from Israel and so the meeting never happened.
In Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismaeil Baqaei dismissed the claims of a back channel contact with the US made in the Axios report. “News of a secret meeting between Iran and the US in Erbil is totally fabricated. The other news report is a media trick and psychological warfare aimed at creating division among decision-making bodies in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Baqaei told reporters during his regular Monday briefing, emphasizing that such behavior is out of “desperation.”
He said that different sections of the Islamic Republic have demonstrated “unprecedented” cohesion and solidarity over the issue of war and peace in the past six months. “The negotiating team is trusted by all institutions of the system, including defense sectors,” Baqaei said, adding that any decisions regarding talks and negotiations will be made considering the viewpoints of all sections of the Islamic System.
