Iran's Araghchi calls US move to restart talks a "positive step" after Vance letter is discussed

The foreign minister's words are the clearest sign yet that Tehran has registered the approach, but Iran still insists the US blockade must be lifted before Hormuz talks can proceed.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has said the letter from US Vice President JD Vance was discussed at a high level in Tehran and called the American step to restart negotiations a "positive step". It is the most direct word from the foreign ministry that the outreach, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, has registered internally. Days earlier Tasnim had indicated it was sitting unanswered.

The remark has to be read beside what Tasnim said only hours before: that no talks are planned in Doha. Taken together, the two statements suggest Tehran is willing to deal through the Vance channel while refusing a wider negotiating format.

Warm language has not been the problem. US envoy Tom Barrack said a deal was "very close", and Qatari negotiators spent 12 hours in Tehran. Iran is weighing a Qatari draft and is due to reply by the end of the week. Trump has said since late September that a decision or an end to the war is near, and none of those statements has been followed by a signed deal or a confirmed concession.

The obstacle is sequencing. Tehran says the US blockade must be lifted first before talks on reopening the Strait of Hormuz can proceed. On October 28 it rejected Washington's seven-day Hormuz plan, calling its terms "unacceptable demands". Araghchi had earlier said Hormuz could reopen within six days if the US met Tehran's conditions. Araghchi's comment keeps the diplomatic track alive without settling that order of events, which has stalled every proposal so far.

The military clock runs alongside. The Pentagon holds a strike directive with no date, and Trump says no strike will come before the November 3 election. Meanwhile Khamenei has ordered Iran's forces to widen their target list to US and Israeli "intangible" assets while Qatari mediators wait for Tehran's answer. Oil traders have already shown how much of the risk they have taken out: the Gulf crude premium has fallen from $34 to about $6 a barrel, and Saudi October export flows nearly matched September. A deal that does not arrive would test that calm.