US proposes Vance-Ghalibaf talks with Turkey as one intermediary: Source

ANKARA — The United States has proposed holding talks between Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, a Turkish source confirmed to Al-Monitor, in a potential shift in efforts to open a diplomatic channel with Tehran as the war approaches the one-month mark.

The proposal for the talks was conveyed through intermediaries, including Turkey, the source said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed efforts to end the war on Monday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, a Turkish diplomatic source said. The conversations came after Fidan’s talks on Sunday with US officials and his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi.

As part of the efforts, plans are also underway for a potential meeting in Islamabad involving senior US and Iranian officials, the Financial Times reported, citing officials briefed on the discussions.

The initiative, facilitated by Pakistan with support from regional partners, is part of broader efforts to establish an indirect channel aimed at deescalating the war, the report said.

Iran has yet to respond to the proposal, the source said. The proposal was first reported by Iran Nuances as US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he was pausing strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure for five days, citing “productive” talks.

Trump’s announcement of talks came after he issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, warning that the United States would otherwise begin striking Iranian energy infrastructure. Oil prices surged to around $100-$110 per barrel amid supply fearsbefore dropping by roughly 9% after the announcement.

Ghalibaf, in turn, said that no negotiations have been held with the United States, but stopped short of explicitly ruling out third-party mediation.

“No negotiations have been held with the US, and fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped,” he said in a post on X. The Iranian Foreign Ministry earlier Monday confirmed that regional countries were conveying US messages to Tehran, according to Iranian state media.

Turkey has been pushing for a temporary ceasefire to open space for diplomacy, with Fidan saying, “We should also consider the possibility of declaring a short-term ceasefire and beginning negotiations during that period,” after a Gulf tour that included Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Fidan added that any path to a ceasefire would also require persuading Israel, arguing that the main obstacle is not a lack of proposals but the absence of political will on the Israeli side to end the war.

“The problem is not the absence of plans to end the war. The problem is that Israel does not want peace,” Fidan said.

Earlier on Monday, Vance and Trump held separate conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a video address, Netanyahu said that Trump “thinks there is an opportunity to draw on recent military achievements to achieve the rest of the war’s goals through an agreement.”

“Such an agreement will protect our interests,” he added.

The remarks are Netanyahu’s first since Trump said that discussions had been held with Iran on the war.

This developing story has been updated.