Trump: Vance's contact with Iran was about helping it get medical supplies

U.S. President Donald Trump said that his deputy J.D. Vance's contact with Iran was aimed at helping Tehran obtain medical supplies, after U.S. media reported that Vance sent a message to a top security official in Tehran to revive talks aimed at stopping the war.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday that Tehran had received a message from Vance but had not yet responded.

The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, citing U.S. officials and informed sources, reported on Wednesday that Vance sent the message to the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, in an effort to revive war-stopping negotiations. Reuters has not yet been able to verify the authenticity of these reports.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Vance sent the letter at Trump's direction. When asked by reporters later on Wednesday whether he had directed Vance to contact Iran to resume war-stopping negotiations, Trump replied, "No."

"The thing is, they need help with medical supplies and various other things. He (Vance) asked me what I thought. I told him: If you want to do it, that's fine. Basically, it's about delivering supplies to help sick people," Trump told reporters.

Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York has not yet responded to a request for comment on the letter and Trump's statement. Vance's office has also not yet responded to a request for comment.

The United States and Israel launched a war on Iran at the end of February. Washington has since imposed a naval blockade on Iran to deny it oil export revenues and has also stepped up its efforts to economically isolate the Islamic Republic.

Iran has long blamed U.S. sanctions for hindering civilians' access to medical supplies.

In a letter sent in August to the United Nations Security Council, Iran accused the United States of deliberately denying civilians "access to food, medicine, medical equipment, energy, and other necessities, with dire consequences for their rights to life, health, food, and an adequate standard of living."

Qatari mediators delivered a new draft agreement to Iran on Sunday to end the war, but a senior Iranian official said that Doha had only put forward unacceptable ideas that did not amount to an offer.

The war's impact on global energy costs has cast a shadow over support for Republican candidates and has also affected Trump's popularity ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress.

The Republican Party, to which the U.S. president belongs, holds a slim majority in both houses of Congress.