Iran has refused to negotiate with US President Donald Trump’s top envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, accusing them of “backstabbing”, according to British daily The Telegraph.

Gulf sources have told the newspaper that the Iranians would not sit down with Witkoff and Kushner because of the military strikes that hit Tehran hours after they held talks in February.

JD Vance, the vice-president who has remained largely quiet during the conflict, is now being touted as chief negotiator should fresh discussions go ahead later this week.

“Vance is preferred,” a Gulf source has said of the Iranians. “They don’t want to work with Jared and Witkoff because they stabbed them in the back.”

A second Gulf source has said the Iranians believe Vance will stick to his word and that his participation is seen as the appropriate seniority for negotiations with Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

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