A new report from OSINTdefender adds that Kurdish President Nechirvan Barzani facilitated direct communication between the Trump administration and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Ahmad Vahidi. The backchannel was established to clarify negotiations amid internal uncertainty over who truly represented Iran's leadership, according to the single-source report.
Tonight, a new report from OSINTdefender adds another layer to the secret backchannel story that broke earlier today. The report specifies that Kurdish President Nechirvan Barzani mediated direct communication between the Trump administration and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Ahmad Vahidi, and that this channel was set up in May to clarify who genuinely represented Iran's leadership amid internal power struggles.
The backchannel story first emerged at 12:00 Jerusalem on Sunday, when Axios reported that the Trump administration had established a secret communication channel with the IRGC via Barzani, bypassing official Iranian negotiators, and that the US proposed direct talks in Erbil but the Iranian side scuttled the plan for fear of Israeli intelligence activity in Iraqi Kurdistan. A subsequent Axios report added that Barzani placed an encrypted call to Vahidi to secure backing for the talks. The Zioneer reported on the Axios disclosures at 15:14 Jerusalem.
The new OSINTdefender report explicitly names Vahidi as the direct IRGC contact and states the channel was meant to address internal Iranian uncertainty over who spoke for the regime. This aligns with The Zioneer's topic dossier on Vahidi, published at 14:48 Jerusalem today, which describes him as a key figure in the "radical camp" under acting Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and notes that he has previously held encrypted communications with Barzani.
The backchannel appears distinct from the Doha-based CENTCOM-IRGC crisis resolution mechanism announced in late June and the secure-line talks reported in early July, suggesting separate US efforts to engage directly with hardline IRGC figures. The OSINTdefender report remains single-source and has not been independently corroborated.
4 developments
- DevelopingFootage reveals IRGC commander Vahidi guarded by Hezbollah Radwan Force, wearing Iraqi militia uniform
- DevelopingMojtaba Khamenei affirms IRGC commander Vahidi's hardline line as official US policy
- DevelopingIRGC Officer Reveals Khamenei Stressed IRGC's Power in Meetings
- DevelopingIranian source alleges Trump held secret conference call with Arab leaders on normalization-for-peace deal
Source and signal
- Open-source intake