A day earlier, Trump had already announced the likelihood of curtailing US military efforts in the Middle East, although US officials said the expected fighting would last another two to three weeks. Meanwhile, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and the head of the White House's son-in-law Jared Kushner are taking part in discussions regarding potential diplomacy, media interlocutors said.
For now, the Trump team is trying to determine who in Iran is the best contact for negotiations and which country is capable of playing the role of mediator. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who led the Iranian delegation at preliminary negotiations with the United States, according to the advisers of the American president, is only a “fax machine” and has no real authority to conclude an agreement. American officials are trying to understand who actually makes decisions in Iran and how to communicate with these people. Due to mutual mistrust, the United States no longer considers Oman, which previously mediated nuclear negotiations, as a meeting place for the parties. America is leaning more toward Qatar, which it believes has proven effective in mediating in Gaza. At the same time, the Qataris are ready to help, but not publicly; they do not seek to be the main official intermediaries, the article says.
Trump advisers want to be fully prepared if talks with Iran begin soon, the sources said. Any agreement, according to Washington, should contain: the resumption of work in the Strait of Hormuz; zero uranium enrichment; decommissioning reactors at the Netanz, Isfahan and Fordo nuclear sites, which the US and Israel bombed last year; long-term agreements on the nuclear program, ballistic missiles and support for allied groups in the region, in particular no funding for Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen or Hamas in Gaza. Indirect reports coming out of Iran indicate its willingness to negotiate peace, but subject to a ceasefire, guarantees that war will not resume in the future, and compensation, Axios wrote.
Context
On the morning of February 28 Israel announces Operation Lion's Roar in Iran. The US called its actions against Iran “Epic Fury”. Trump announced his intention protect the American peopleeliminating immediate threats from the Iranian regime. Same day liquidated Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and more than 40 other country officials.
The head of the White House also said that he wants to personally take part in choosing the next leader of Iran. According to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, this is “the exclusive matter of the Iranian people, and no one can interfere.”
In early March, Trump said that operation in Iran may take four weeks. Politico wrote that military action could last until September.
On March 20, the media reported that the United States was allegedly considering sending ground troops to Iran, but on the same day Trump announced the possibility of curtailing a large-scale military operation in the Middle East.
