WASHINGTON, Aug 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on the 17th that a secret communication channel exists between U.S. officials and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and demanded that Iran "raise the white flag and surrender." Iran's IRGC swiftly rejected the claim, calling Trump's statement a "hallucination."
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said that despite Iran's "public show of confrontation," a "private communication channel with IRGC officials remains open." He said that while Iran is "a very good poker player" under enormous pressure, it should "raise the white flag and surrender." Trump said his considerations on resolving the Iran conflict are "unrelated to the U.S. midterm elections," and he has not set a new deadline for Iran.
IRGC spokesman Mokhber said on the 17th that IRGC officials have not held secret-channel talks with the United States, and that "Trump's lies are merely hallucinations and nightmares born of his war failure and despair." Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Baghaei also rejected reports of IRGC contacts via informal channels, emphasizing that Iran's decision-making bodies are "unprecedentedly united."
According to Axios on the 16th, U.S. officials bypassed Iran's negotiators and contacted IRGC leadership, with the intermediary being Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government.
Source: Xinhua | Original
