Trump confirms secret backchannel with Iran’s IRGC

US President Donald Trump has confirmed that Washington maintains a backchannel with officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as a previously reported 60-day period under a memorandum of understanding between the two countries expired.

Trump made the remarks in an interview with FOX News, without providing details about the nature or scope of the contacts.

The comments came a day after Axios reported that Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani had been tapped as a secret intermediary between Washington and senior IRGC officials, citing three sources with direct knowledge of the talks.

Barzani has longstanding ties to Iran. He lived there during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, studied at the University of Tehran, speaks fluent Farsi and maintains personal relationships with several senior Iranian officials, including members of the IRGC.

Trump said Tehran should raise “the white flag of surrender,” while stressing that he has “no time schedule” and is in “no hurry” to reach a deal.

The Iranians are “good poker players, but they're dying,” Trump said.

Asked about US munitions used in operations against Iran, Trump described the amount deployed so far as “peanuts.”

By Vafa Guliyeva