By Kevin Liptak, CNN
(CNN) — Iranian intelligence has sent word to the United States it could be prepared to open talks on how to end the war, according to people familiar with the indirect messages, but US officials say there are no negotiations underway and that potential “off-ramps” are unlikely to materialize in the near term.
The messages were conveyed through a third country to the CIA, the people familiar said. But so far, it does not appear the channel has resulted in any serious discussions on how to bring the war to an end.
Instead, American officials have described entering a new, more intensive phase of the joint operation with Israel to degrade Iran’s missile program and ensure it not be able to obtain a nuclear weapon. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a briefing Wednesday the US was “just getting started.” And lawmakers who were briefed by the administration Tuesday on Iran said they did not hear a distinct endgame, including potential efforts at diplomacy.
Iranian leaders, for their part, haven’t demonstrated public willingness to negotiate as their ranks grow slimmer as a result of Israeli attacks.
Yet the messages, however preliminary, do suggest an eventual pathway exists to brokering an end to the war. CNN has reached out to the CIA for comment. The New York Times first reported on the messages from Iran.
American officials insist they have not been in talks — either directly or through a third party — with the Iranians since nuclear negotiations fell apart days before the war began. They have, however, received messages from other countries offering to help defuse the conflict.
“Since this thing went kinetic, we’ve had a number of reach-outs,” a senior Trump administration official said Tuesday, putting the number of nations at nearly a dozen. “It’s not dissimilar to what we had before, people wanting to see if they can help solve it, and we’ve talked to them.”
To date, that has not resulted in any robust exchange of messages between the United States and Iran. Steve Witkoff, the president’s foreign envoy who led three rounds of negotiations with Iran before Trump ordered strikes, has not been in touch with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who in the past he exchanged text messages with.
Witkoff has also not spoken with Iran’s top national security official, Ali Larijani, the senior administration official said.
“We’re not using anyone as an interlocutor. This is a military action, and it’s got to run its course,” the official said.
And Iran’s deputy foreign minister said Wednesday that no message is being sent to the US.
“We have not conveyed any message to Americans because we are now defending ourselves,” Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on MS Now. “We are in a defensive mode. And what we are concentrating on is to protect ourselves, to defend ourselves. So, no message is being sent and we haven’t received any message by America or by anybody else.”
Still, behind the scenes, many officials have wondered whether a potential agreement could eventually be struck that would stop the conflict while satisfying all of Trump’s conditions: that Iran dismantle its nuclear and missile programs and end its support for military proxy groups in the Middle East.
Who, exactly, would agree to that on Iran’s part is unclear. The country’s leadership remains in flux after the death over the weekend of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“The people we had in mind are d