Middle East & North Africa
Kalin announces a Vance–Rezaei meeting in Qatar – Tehran denies it – sources
Turkey’s intelligence chief says US Vice President Vance will meet Iran’s Mohsen Rezaei in Qatar next week. Hours later an unnamed Iranian security official told Tasnim no such contact is planned.
The head of Turkey’s intelligence service (MIT), Ibrahim Kalin, on Monday, November 9, announced a meeting between US Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary, Mohsen Rezaei, in Qatar next week. A few hours later Tehran replied that no such contact is planned. Both are claims by interested parties and none has been independently confirmed.
Mr Kalin spoke at a conference in Ankara on the search for a new regional “social contract” in the Middle East. His remarks were carried by the Turkish newspaper Türkiye and reproduced by the Azerbaijani news agency APA. The Turkish official called the meeting an important opportunity for progress in the Washington-Tehran talks. He said diplomatic contacts continue and the negotiations have reached a decisive stage.
The seven-article deal
Mr Kalin described a draft seven-article agreement on which Turkey and other mediators are working. The plan provides for lifting sanctions and releasing frozen Iranian funds. In exchange, Iran would commit not to acquire nuclear weapons, would start talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency and would end the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. The main point of friction, he said, is which side makes the first move.
The MIT chief warned that without a deal the US may strike Iran again and that the coming days could prove decisive. He added that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asked Donald Trump, in a phone call, not to proceed with a new military operation against Iran.
Tehran’s “no”
The denial came through Iran’s Tasnim agency, from a senior security official who was not named. As relayed by APA’s Tehran bureau, the official said Iran’s policy on contacts with the US has not changed. No negotiations with American representatives are scheduled until Washington takes practical steps within the framework of the seven conditions Tehran has set. Mr Rezaei himself had presented them, linking them to the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier the same day Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei had set as a precondition the lifting of US sanctions and the naval blockade, noting that Qatar and Pakistan are in regular contact with both sides. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had insisted on Sunday that the two-day proposal stands, while on Monday Mr Trump had on his schedule a meeting with Qatar’s prime minister, who carries messages between the two capitals.
