US President Donald Trump has said Vice President JD Vance's recent outreach to Iran was about helping the country obtain medical supplies, rather than a new attempt to restart formal peace negotiations.

Trump was asked by reporters whether he had directed Vance to contact Tehran to revive talks. He answered: “No.” He added that Iran needed help with medical supplies and various things, and that Vance had asked his view and he had said it was acceptable to help people who were not well.

What is known about the letter

US media, including the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, reported that Vance had written to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, in a bid to revive peace negotiations. Reuters reported that it could not immediately verify those reports. Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday that Tehran had received a letter from Vance but had not yet responded to it.

Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to Reuters.

Tehran's stated conditions

Iran's Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said no progress could be made without agreement on Iran's conditions, which he said had repeatedly been conveyed to Washington through mediators. Writing on X, he said a “carrot-and-stick approach has no effect on Iran” and that progress could only follow agreement on Iran's seven conditions.

Iran has long blamed US sanctions for hindering civilian access to medical supplies, and in an August letter to the UN Security Council it accused the US of depriving civilians of food, medicines, medical equipment and energy. The United States and Israel launched a war against Iran at the end of February, and the US has since imposed a naval blockade aimed at Iranian oil export revenue. Against that background, even a limited contact over supplies is being read closely, but neither side has described it as a breakthrough, and no agreement has been announced.

Sources: Reuters; AnewZ.