Iran picks Vance over Witkoff and Kushner for high-stakes U.S. talks

A diplomatic message passed through unofficial channels suggests that Iran sees talks involving Witkoff and Kushner as ineffective because of a lack of trust after previous negotiations broke down ahead of military action by the United States and Israel. Vance, by contrast, is viewed as more interested in ending the war, the report said.

“It seems that Vance is focused on ending the conflict,” one source said.

At the same time, experts say that would be difficult for Vance, because bringing the talks to a close and securing peace will not be easy.

Witkoff, for his part, remains deeply involved in the issue, and sources said Iran will likely have to negotiate with whichever representative the Trump administration sends.

“Whoever the administration decides to send is who the Iranians will have to deal with, but that does not mean they do not have their own preferences,” a second source said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN that the decision on who will represent the United States in the talks remains up to Trump. “As the president said today, Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Witkoff and Mr. Kushner will all be involved,” Leavitt said.

On March 23, Trump instructed the Pentagon to delay strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days.

In a post on Truth Social, he wrote that the United States and Iran had held “very good and productive talks over the last two days on a complete and final end to the war in the Middle East.” Trump said the talks would continue this week.

Trump later repeated that the United States and Iran are negotiating an end to the war and that there are “important points of contact” between the two sides. He said he expects a deal to be reached very soon.

“We very much want to make a deal. It has to be a good deal: no more wars, no nuclear weapons. They’re not going to have nuclear weapons anymore. They’re not agreeing to it. Without that, there’s going to be no deal,” Trump said.

On March 24, Israeli outlet Ynet reported that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, had agreed to talks with the United States. Until then, Tehran had denied any direct negotiations with Washington. Iran’s Foreign Ministry, in particular, called claims of a “productive dialogue” false.