Vance says a Revolutionary Guards officer and a CENTCOM officer will sit down together

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said Thursday night that he plans to arrange direct talks between a senior officer from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a CENTCOM officer, saying, “This will solve a lot of things.” He added, “It was decided that someone from the Revolutionary Guards would be sent to spend time in Doha with someone from CENTCOM.”

The remark was unusual and, by the article’s account, unprecedented because the Revolutionary Guards are designated a terrorist organization by the United States. The piece says such a move would amount to Washington granting the Guards some form of official legitimacy for the first time.

Vance also said the United Arab Emirates, which he described as the most pro-Israel country in the Gulf, is holding direct talks with Iran over economic incentives. “The Emiratis are the toughest, and the most supportive of Israel in the Gulf states,” he said.

According to Vance, those Emirati-Iranian contacts include discussions with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, something he said had never happened before. He said the talks involve “different kinds of economic incentives.” The article places his comments in the context of meetings in Switzerland involving Vance, Qatar’s prime minister and Jared Kushner.