{"id":329066,"date":"2026-07-18T05:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T05:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=329066"},"modified":"2026-07-19T08:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T08:00:14","slug":"iran-sent-message-to-jd-vance-warning-that-kushner-and-witkoff-were-abusing-their-inside-access-to-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=329066","title":{"rendered":"Iran Sent Message to JD Vance Warning that Kushner and Witkoff Were \u201cAbusing\u201d Their Inside Access to Negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim \u2013 Drop Site July 15, 2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Drop Site\u2019s journalism is free to read because thousands of readers choose to fund it. If our work matters to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today.<\/p>\n

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During the U.S.-Iran talks in Lake Lucerne, Switzerland in late June, Iranian negotiators sent a private message to Vice President JD Vance through an intermediary. The Iranians warned Vance that the continued presence of President Donald Trump\u2019s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner would undermine the chance of turning the June 17 framework into an enduring deal, a senior Iranian official told Drop Site.<\/p>\n

The Iranian official spoke to Drop Site on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly. In the message, according to the official, Iran conveyed to Vance that the pair were more interested in exploiting insider knowledge of the negotiations to profit in financial markets than they were in reaching a deal. Iranian negotiators also expressed concern about repeated leaks from Kushner to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (A U.S. official told Axios<\/a> that since the negotiations began, Witkoff and Kushner \u201ctalk almost every day to Netanyahu\u201d and the head of Mossad.)<\/p>\n

In the weeks leading up to the signing of the memorandum of understanding, the official said, Iran presented written documentation to mediators of what it characterized as evidence that \u201cindividuals close to President Trump\u201d were abusing the Iran war and diplomatic developments to manipulate financial markets. \u201cEven before the Islamabad talks kicked off [in April], we had already sent multiple messages to Trump through the Pakistanis, warning them about [Witkoff\u2019s] overall destructive role in the previous negotiation,\u201d the Iranian official said.<\/p>\n

The outreach to Vance came after these previous efforts to raise Tehran\u2019s concerns about Witkoff and Kushner with the White House, the official said\u2014given that messages passed to mediators are delivered broadly to the full U.S. team including Kushner, who is a private citizen with no official government role.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe transmitted data and assessments through an exclusive channel to Mr. Vance,\u201d said the senior Iranian official, who has direct knowledge of the effort. Iranian negotiators, he said, communicated to Vance that they believed Witkoff and Kushner were \u201cabusing\u201d the diplomatic process, \u201ceffectively disrupting the overall negotiating atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drop Site was not able to independently confirm the intermediary actually delivered the message, though the Iranian official said Tehran was confident Vance had received it. The official declined to offer specifics. In response to a request for comment sent to the vice president\u2019s office, a U.S. official denied Iran\u2019s claims. \u201cA message of this nature was never conveyed to the Vice President or his team,\u201d the official told Drop Site. \u201cAdditionally, any insinuation that the other members of the president\u2019s trusted negotiating team are operating under motives other than serving the president and delivering on his mission is false.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kushner and Witkoff did not respond to requests for comment, but a White House spokesperson denied Iran\u2019s claims and denounced Drop Site. \u201cNo such message was ever transmitted to the United States. It\u2019s sad that Drop Site News \u2018reporters\u2019 are so filled with hate for America and devoid of respect for themselves that they have become full-throated propagandists for the Iranian regime,\u201d said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly.<\/p>\n

A source close to Vance told Drop Site the Iranians had made no secret of their objections to the presence of Witkoff and Kushner in the negotiations.<\/p>\n

Since the Iran war began, many financial analysts have described a pattern<\/a> where speculative bets are placed or unusually large positions are taken in key markets<\/a> related to the conflict and diplomatic events, including consistent announcements from Trump made just prior to the Monday openings of U.S. trading. This has led to widespread public speculation<\/a> that people with access to inside information are manipulating markets in oil futures, energy stocks, and prediction markets.<\/p>\n

In June, Iran calculated profits from such alleged manipulation had reached $9 billion and formally requested, in writing, that Iran should share in the proceeds. \u201cWe have conveyed through intermediaries that $4.5 billion of this sum should also be allocated to the Iranian side,\u201d the Iranian official said. \u201cThe exchanged texts will ultimately become part of the historical record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran met for indirect diplomatic talks on February 6 in Oman and February 26 in Switzerland before the war began on February 28. \u201cDuring our negotiation rounds in Oman, it had become completely clear to us that this person [Witkoff] had zero connection to diplomacy or actually advancing the talks,\u201d the official added, saying that Witkoff had entirely misrepresented Iran\u2019s positions on a range of issues, including what terms it was willing to offer the U.S. on the fate of its highly enriched uranium. Witkoff\u2019s \u201cmistaken impressions from the negotiations got passed on to Trump,\u201d he charged.<\/p>\n

The official cautioned that Iran was not naive in believing that Vance would subvert Trump\u2019s positions, but assessed that the vice president brings a more sober, professional, and realistic perspective to the negotiations. \u201cSending this exact message directly to Vance was done with the full approval of our negotiating team,\u201d he said. He declined to \u201cconfirm or deny anything about other messages being exchanged\u201d between Vance and Iranian officials.<\/p>\n

A source close to Vance, however, said the vice president is broadly looking for partners on the Iranian side. \u201cJD is doing the job of what you\u2019re supposed to do with diplomacy, which is find people within the other side who are more willing to dialogue, and that\u2019s been a real key thing,\u201d the U.S. source told Drop Site. \u201cAnd to be honest, it\u2019s diplomacy 101, when you go in and you assess the team, you always try to get as many people on the other team as possible, like you don\u2019t want it to be one on one. You want it to be like 12 on 12.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Iranians also want to see an expansion of the size of the negotiating delegations, particularly technical experts and Iran country experts from the U.S. \u201cWe have also informed [Vance] that an expansion of our negotiating team would provide a suitable opportunity for him to adjust the composition of his own delegation,\u201d said the senior Iran official.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat being said, our assessment is that he is cautiously adding select members of his\u2026 team with expertise on the Middle East and Iran file, while facing significant constraints in making rapid changes to his team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Iranian official dismissed the suggestion Vance would be able to succeed in cultivating an Iranian source on the negotiating team. \u201cThe Iranian side has a small, stable team at the high levels, and the scope of their decisions is very clearly defined,\u201d the Iranian official said.<\/p>\n

The Iranian official said that during the diplomatic talks in Oman and Switzerland before the war, Witkoff and Kushner showed up with no subject area or nuclear experts and appeared oblivious to the technical aspects of negotiating the nuclear issue. During these talks, he said, Iranian negotiators presented an outline of their existing stockpile of enriched uranium and assessed that their \u201cunbelievable level of flexibility\u201d formed the basis for what Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on February 25 could be a \u201chistoric opportunity to strike an unprecedented agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Witkoff subsequently portrayed Iran\u2019s disclosure of its highly enriched uranium stockpile as a threat to build multiple nuclear weapons. \u201cThe Iranian negotiators said to us, directly, with, you know, no shame, that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60%, and they\u2019re aware that that could make 11 nuclear bombs, and that was the beginning of their negotiating stance,\u201d Witkoff said on Fox News on March 3, while defending the decision to attack Iran in the middle of negotiations.<\/p>\n

While the Western press routinely characterize the Iranian negotiating team as in disarray, it has been the American side that has been hardest to read, as Trump has periodically disrupted talks with explicit death threats against negotiators, or promised widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure in Iran, after having agreed in the memorandum of understanding to stop leveling such threats.<\/p>\n

Just as the talks between Iran and Vance began in Lucerne, Trump appeared to threaten the lives of Iran\u2019s negotiators, telling FOX News that if Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again, \u201cYou won\u2019t have a country. You won\u2019t even make it back to your f***ing country.\u201d In response, Iran\u2019s delegation staged a walkout of the talks.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s [statements] during Vance\u2019s negotiations with the Iranian delegation in Pakistan and Switzerland [were] clearly intended to undermine Vance\u2019s position in the talks,\u201d said the Iranian official. \u201cIn practice, it ended up weakening his standing with the mediators as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Iranians decided to pursue a direct channel to Vance after the MOU was signed, in part persuaded by mediators that the vice president had a genuine interest in reaching a lasting agreement and that he represented the long-term interests of the U.S. government. Trump, mediators told Iran, appeared driven primarily by his day-to-day feelings as to how the war or the ceasefire reflected on his image. Iran is aware of the political reality that Vance is jockeying for the Republican nomination to succeed Trump, giving him more of an incentive to reach a durable resolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mediators firmly maintain that President Trump\u2019s personal preferences and his disruptive interventions in the peace process are actions that undermine the peace efforts,\u201d said the Iranian official. \u201cThe mediators are making a distinction between Vance\u2019s representation and Trump\u2019s own positions. They\u2019re saying that Trump personally has an interest in keeping the image of the war going, while the U.S. establishment, represented by Vance, wants to bring the war to a conclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert Malley, a former Middle East official under both President Barack Obama and Joe Biden who was also a top U.S. negotiator of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, said it is strategically sound for the Iranians to work to establish direct communication with Vance, but such a channel can only mean so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cVance may be more authoritative than Kushner and Witkoff, but that hardly makes him authoritative,\u201d Malley told Drop Site. \u201cIf today\u2019s President Trump cannot speak for tomorrow\u2019s, then how could JD Vance?\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, he said, there\u2019s little harm in trying. \u201cIt makes perfect sense for the Iranians to try to establish a separate channel to Vice President Vance: He is the most senior U.S. official ever to have met with representatives of the Islamic Republic; he is known to have been skeptical of the war; a diplomatic breakthrough with Tehran would strengthen his political standing; and he is far more dependable than any of the available alternatives\u2014namely, Kushner and Witkoff,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever hard the vice president may try to persuade the Iranians that his word matters more than the president\u2019s latest outburst, they would probably be wiser to bet on the outburst rather than the word.\u201d<\/p>\n

The future of any deal between Iran and the U.S. is very much in doubt. Trump formally informed Congress on July 10 that the U.S. is officially engaged in combat operations against Iran and he publicly declared the ceasefire dead. He has also suggested that diplomatic talks will continue. On Tuesday, <\/a>Trump said that after new U.S. attacks there would not be \u201canybody left\u201d in Iran.<\/p>\n

From Iran\u2019s perspective, it\u2019s a familiar pattern of the U.S. constructing a mirage of negotiations between attacks. \u201cUnder the current circumstances, the U.S. side needs to reassess its understanding of the situation on the ground. They seem determined to test their chances of using force in relation to the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d said the Iranian official. \u201cOur view is that once they fail again over the Strait of Hormuz, they\u2019ll almost certainly come back to the negotiating table. But by then, the negotiations definitely won\u2019t be as straightforward for them as they once were.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Seems like Trump\u2019s two chief negotiators were more interested in making money than striking a peace deal. A senior Iranian official said Tehran privately told Vance the pair were exploiting the negotiations for financial gain. The Trump administration says it never happened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":317017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41,51,146],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Inside_the_White_House_and_Washingtons_Beltway","category-Iran","category-iran-u-s-israel-war"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=329066"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329069,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329066\/revisions\/329069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/317017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=329066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=329066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=329066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}