Iranian security council secretary denies any negotiations with Washington

The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council has denied that Iran is negotiating with the United States, calling reports of talks false. According to Abu Ali Express, which identified the official as Mohsen Rezaei, he accused Washington of circulating invented news about negotiations that do not exist and said the United States should instead accept seven conditions that Iran has presented several times.

A separate report put the denial in narrower terms. Ynet reported that Iran said there are no plans for a meeting between the council's secretary and the Vice President of the United States. Ynet's alert did not name the secretary or quote the statement at length.

What the Iranian statement said

The fuller wording comes from Abu Ali Express, which published the statement in Hebrew. In that version, the secretary said the war against Iran had already inflicted heavy damage on the American administration, and he compared Washington to a desperate gambler that keeps raging on. He told the United States to "quit the game" and to stop denying what he described as a new order taking shape in West Asia, the term Iranian officials commonly use for the Middle East.

The statement closed by saying it was time for the United States to give in to Iran's seven conditions. Neither report lists what those conditions are, and the statement as published does not spell them out.

What the Supreme National Security Council is

The Supreme National Security Council is Iran's highest body for defence and foreign security policy. It brings together senior political, military and intelligence figures and sets the country's strategic line on matters such as conflict, nuclear policy and relations with foreign powers. Its decisions are subject to the approval of Iran's Supreme Leader.

The council's secretary runs its day to day work and has often acted as a senior point of contact on sensitive diplomatic files. That is why a denial from the person holding this post carries weight: it is the office that would normally be involved if Tehran were engaged in high level contacts with Washington.

Two framings of one denial

The two reports describe the Iranian position in different ways, and they do not fully overlap. Abu Ali Express presented it as a flat denial that any negotiations with the United States are under way. Ynet presented it as a statement that no meeting is planned between the council's secretary and the American Vice President.

The Ynet wording suggests that the denial was a response to a specific report or expectation of such a meeting, though Ynet's alert does not say where that idea originated. The Abu Ali Express version is broader and more combative in tone, describing the talk of negotiations as fabricated. The two are consistent with each other, but a reader should be aware that one concerns a particular meeting and the other concerns negotiations as a whole.

About the outlets

Ynet is the news website of Yedioth Ahronoth, one of Israel's largest media groups, and runs a Telegram channel of short breaking news alerts that link to fuller stories on its site. Abu Ali Express is a Hebrew language Telegram channel that follows Arab and Iranian affairs and frequently publishes translations of statements by officials in the region. Both items reached readers as short Telegram posts rather than full articles.

Why it matters to readers following Israel

Any contact between Iran and the United States is watched closely in Israel, which regards Iran as its principal strategic adversary. Talks between Tehran and Washington, or their absence, can shape the security environment Israel faces. The secretary's reference to a war against Iran and to a new regional order reflects the confrontational language Iranian officials use when addressing the United States. The statement as reported did not mention Israel directly.

What the reports do not say

• Neither report identifies the source of the claims of negotiations or of a planned meeting with the American Vice President that the secretary was denying.
• No response from the White House or the US State Department has been reported.
• The seven conditions Iran says it has set out are not described in either report.
• Ynet's alert does not name the secretary; the identification as Mohsen Rezaei comes from Abu Ali Express alone.