US Establishes Backchannel to Iran's Revolutionary Guard

In mid-May, US negotiators trying to reach a deal with Iran to end the war encountered a problem: they couldn't tell if the people across the table actually spoke for the country's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. To address this issue, the Trump administration established a backchannel to IRGC leadership through Nechirvan Barzani, who has the trust of both US and IRGC leaders. Barzani was asked by then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to reach out to IRGC commander Gen. Ahmad Vahidi.

Barzani agreed to Gabbard's request and reached out to his contacts at the IRGC, eventually speaking directly to Vahidi. Vahidi stated that he was aligned with the Iranian negotiators and preferred to solve the crisis through negotiations. After receiving the Iranian response, the Trump administration came back with another proposal, which included hosting secret talks between senior US and Iranian negotiators in Erbil. However, the Erbil meeting never materialized due to Iranian concerns about their security.

The Pakistani and Qatari mediators continue to exchange messages between the US and Iran, but without significant progress. Barzani has recently sent messages to the White House offering to help restart US-Iran negotiations. The issue of Iran's policy on the Strait remains a major obstacle to any potential deal.