TEHRAN -- Iran’s top security official has confirmed he is sitting on an unanswered letter from U.S. Vice President JD Vance, describing Washington’s tone as “completely changed” and calling the shift proof that Tehran has consolidated its victory.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, warned that the Strait of Hormuz will stay shut and negotiations will not resume until America meets seven Iranian conditions.
The letter from Vance arrived in Tehran on Thursday, sent at the direction of President Donald Trump, and called for the resumption of peace negotiations, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the correspondence.
Rezaei said he had personally read the letter but had deliberately withheld a response. 
“I have read the letter from Vance, but I have not yet responded to it,” he said. “Their tone has completely changed, which is a good sign.” 
He declined to disclose the letter’s contents, citing the American side’s own silence on the matter: “They have not disclosed anything from the letter, so I will not say anything for now.”
The security chief went further, calling the tonal shift a strategic victory. “The Iranian nation has consolidated its victory and its authority,” he said, comparing the Vance letter to an earlier message Trump had sent to Iran’s leadership. 
Washington’s softened language, he said, reflects a balance of power that has tilted toward Tehran after two wars—the 12-day aggression in June 2025 and the 40-day war that began on February 28, 2026.
On the nuclear file, Rezaei confirmed that domestic debate about changing Iran’s nuclear doctrine is underway but insisted no formal decision has been taken. 
“No new decision has been made officially or at the governance level regarding a change in the nuclear doctrine,” he said. “The discussion is raised: if war starts again, do we want to continue the previous doctrine or not?” 
He added that the Iranian public itself is demanding a review. “When the nation sees the enemy attacking nuclear centers, they naturally ask why the previous process should continue.”
The harder edge of Rezaei’s position concerns the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint through which a significant share of global oil and gas trade passes. 
He was categorical: the waterway will not reopen, and Iran will not negotiate, until Washington fulfills seven conditions Tehran has conveyed through intermediaries. 
“Until our conditions are implemented, the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened, and we will not enter negotiations,” he said. 
He described the new conditions as correcting the flaws of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, particularly regarding the management of the strait and the receipt of frozen Iranian funds. 
“In the Islamabad understanding, observance of international law regarding the administration of the Strait of Hormuz was mentioned, which caused problems. But in Iran’s new conditions, everything will be unambiguously under Iran’s control,” he said. 
“Regarding the receipt of funds, initiatives have been devised so that these funds are not credit.”
Rezaei also confirmed that Washington had sent additional proposals, with ambiguities being pursued through diplomatic channels, but he dismissed the American responses as unconvincing. 
“When America answered our conditions, we saw that it had come forward and raised issues that must be discussed later, and we said this response is not convincing.”
The warning that followed was blunt. “If any mistake is made by America, Iran will deliver crushing responses,” he said. 
In a separate post on X the same day, Rezaei called the seven conditions a path to diplomacy—but only on Iran’s terms. 
“If these conditions are met, the path of diplomacy opens before us. But if any action is taken against Iran, then according to what the Supreme Leader announced today to the armed forces, we will direct a crushing blow at the aggressor with new weapons.”