US Vice President JD Vance (left) and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth observe a meeting between President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office at the White House on Wednesday. [UPI]
US Vice President JD Vance (left) and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth observe a meeting between President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office at the White House on Wednesday. [UPI]

The US military is moving to establish a direct communications channel with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to reduce the risk of armed conflict between the two countries.

Vice President JD Vance disclosed the plan in an interview with the British news website UnHerd on Wednesday. "One of the things we were trying to get out of the negotiations was to create an 'Iranian channel' to reduce conflict," Vance said, adding that Iran had responded positively. He said Iran had agreed to "send someone from the Revolutionary Guard to meet with CENTCOM officials in Doha, Qatar," describing the arrangement as "how we're going to resolve a lot of the disputes between the two sides going forward."

Neither side provided details on the timing or agenda of the meeting. A direct hotline between the US military and the IRGC would be highly unusual. The United States typically conducts communications with adversaries through the Department of State or the CIA, given security concerns.

The proposed channel would allow the two militaries to communicate directly, bypassing those intermediaries. The Jerusalem Post said the development "could come as quite a shock to those involved," noting that CENTCOM had only recently participated in Israeli airstrikes that killed a large number of senior IRGC commanders. The Israeli outlet also said it was unclear whether such talks could be considered legal, given that the United States currently designates the IRGC as a terrorist organization.

Some observers said direct meetings between military officials on both sides — rather than political-level contacts — could do more to build trust and prevent future armed conflict.


kate01@heraldcorp.com