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Scoop: Trump's backchannel to Iran failed after supreme leader went dark
Axios ^ | 6/21/2025 | Barak Ravid

Posted on 06/21/2025 10:01:58 AM PDT by marcusmaximus

President Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan quietly sought to arrange a meeting between senior U.S. and Iranian officials in Istanbul this week amid Israel's escalating war with Iran.

But the effort collapsed when Iran's supreme leader — in hiding due to fears of assassination — couldn't be reached to approve it, according to three U.S. officials and a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

-snip-

Behind the scenes: Trump received a phone call from Erdoğan on Monday while meeting with G7 leaders in Canada.

Erdoğan proposed hosting a meeting in Istanbul the next day between U.S. and Iranian officials to explore a diplomatic solution to the war, three U.S. officials and a source with direct knowledge told Axios.

Trump agreed and told Erdoğan he was willing to send Vice President Vance and White House envoy Steve Witkoff — and even travel to Turkey himself to meet with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian — if that's what was necessary to get a deal, the sources said.

A White House official said that in the hours before the call from Erdoğan, Trump received "signals" from the Iranians through other backchannels that they wanted to meet.

While Trump's personal involvement was discussed, the official said, the more serious plan was to send Vance and Witkoff.

Erdoğan and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan then relayed the proposal to Pezeshkian and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi, the sources said.

Two U.S. officials said Pezeshkian and Araghchi tried contacting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayotallah Ali Khamenei to get his approval. But Khamenei, who has been in hiding for fear of being assassinated by Israel, couldn't be reached.

(Excerpt) Read more at axios.com ...


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But the effort collapsed when Iran's supreme leader — in hiding due to fears of assassination — couldn't be reached



1 posted on 06/21/2025 10:01:58 AM PDT by marcusmaximus
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To: marcusmaximus
...according to three U.S. officials and a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

Russiagate taught me that all anonymously sourced articles are lies..

2 posted on 06/21/2025 10:07:43 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Democrats are the Party of anger, hate and violence.)
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To: marcusmaximus

Now THAT is funny!


3 posted on 06/21/2025 10:10:15 AM PDT by Fury
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To: marcusmaximus

Iran should have accepted POTUS’s deal.


4 posted on 06/21/2025 10:10:26 AM PDT by Stepan12 (Enrique Tarrio? “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them – those who are mistreated…” Hebrew)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Russiagate taught me that all anonymously sourced articles are lies..

Common sense taught me that anything Axios says is worthless.

5 posted on 06/21/2025 10:10:40 AM PDT by CommerceComet (Re-elect Donald Trump - AGAIN)
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To: marcusmaximus

I think the supreme leader is dead. They have been rehashing old posts from him since Israel struck his bunker a few days ago.


6 posted on 06/21/2025 10:15:02 AM PDT by Openurmind (AI - An Illusion for Aptitude Intrusion to Alter Intellect. )
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To: marcusmaximus

“Come out! Come out! Wherever you are!”


7 posted on 06/21/2025 10:18:09 AM PDT by lee martell
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To: All

Some Physics on Saturday morning.

How many folks remember watching manned spacecraft re-entry TV coverage and there was a “communications blackout” period lasting XX seconds.

No that was not intended to elevate the drama. That, people, is ionized gas. Plasma. And the bad news is plasma tends to absorb radio frequencies — of all sorts, certainly S band and X band and L band, too. If it did not do this, the comm links would have long ago been redefined in frequency to dodge this physical property.

Missiles at high velocity, very high velocity, form plasma around them. And yes, that means radar won’t track them. This is why hypersonics have begun the emergency programs in the US to have its own.

And so. This is the source of Iron Dome’s failure. High altitude trajectories of Iranian missiles are low enough for there to be some air molecules that are slammed into at that velocity, ionizing them (smashing a few electrons off atoms (that’s what ions are, atoms with more protons than electrons)), and that is the definition of plasma — ionized gas.

Instantly, radar loses track. The vast majority of time enroute the missile is invisible to THAAD, ARROW, Iron Dome, any crap you want to call it. If you can’t see it, you can’t hit it.

This obviously gets covered up, for legit reasons of denying the enemy knowledge of damage done, and more intensely to protect the manufacturers from destruction of reputation, in case they want to sell more useless X-band tracking radars.

Iran has 92 million people. Israel has 9 million and 91% is urban. The media will posture Israel to have crushing superiority, but you can’t create population with PR.


8 posted on 06/21/2025 10:22:23 AM PDT by Owen
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To: Stepan12

I think even if the Iranian regime accepted the offer to negotiate, it would go nowhere. They seem to look at any negotiation as a sign of weakness by the other side.


9 posted on 06/21/2025 10:22:33 AM PDT by rbg81 (=)
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10 posted on 06/21/2025 10:25:02 AM PDT by Who is John Galt? ("...mit Pulver und Blei, Die Gedanken sind frei!")
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To: Owen

And the bad news is plasma tends to absorb radio frequencies — of all sorts, certainly S band and X band and L band, too. If it did not do this, the comm links would have long ago been redefined in frequency to dodge this physical property.


I never heard that before. We track ballistic missiles (RVs) during their decent phase. At that time they are traveling just as fast as hypersonic missiles — and maybe faster.


11 posted on 06/21/2025 10:25:26 AM PDT by rbg81 (=)
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To: marcusmaximus

😂😂😂


12 posted on 06/21/2025 10:31:49 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Stepan12
Iran should have accepted POTUS’s deal.

YARN | Shoulda taken the money, Toombs. | The Chronicles of ...
13 posted on 06/21/2025 10:36:22 AM PDT by af_vet_1981 ( The bus came by and I got on, That's when it all began.)
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To: marcusmaximus; lightman; Navy Patriot

No supreme ayatollah, no deals!


14 posted on 06/21/2025 10:47:27 AM PDT by Honorary Serb (Kosovo is Serbia! Free Srpska! Abolish ICTY!)
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To: rbg81

The definition of ballistic is that an object is not under propulsion.

The only force acting on it after propulsion ends is parasitic drag. That slows it. It does not speed it up.

The numbers are definitive. Altitude at start of descent, call it 70 miles up. Velocity 6 miles per second. You have 10 seconds to have your track-while-scan algorithm see something and declare track. Then it has to break lock to scan the rest of the sky and determine if target #2 has to be processed, then refresh #1 (which likely maneuvered a bit) and then #2 and #3 and #4.

You have 10 seconds from detection to impact, and it’s less than that because you should not even bother shooting if altitude has descended so low the interceptor can’t reach it in time.

This is what one defines as Failed In PDR. Preliminary Design Review. They built it to handle low altitude threats that never are enshrouded in plasma stealth.

You will soon start to hear a magic phrase for the Golden Dome. “It’s not a physics problem. It’s just engineering.” That is the phrase that actually means . . . award the contract and we’ll figure it out. It’s not impossible.


15 posted on 06/21/2025 10:47:40 AM PDT by Owen
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To: marcusmaximus

Awesome graphic


16 posted on 06/21/2025 10:55:10 AM PDT by lonestar67 (America is exceptional)
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To: marcusmaximus
So sorry to hear about michael te possum.
17 posted on 06/21/2025 11:00:03 AM PDT by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same. )
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To: Stepan12

The rumor was from the beginning that the supposed “Deal” was almost identical to the Obama nuke deal so if that were the case no deal for me. Either get rid of EVERYTHING or turn into applesauce that simple


18 posted on 06/21/2025 11:04:41 AM PDT by Sarah Barracuda
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To: Owen

I’ve looked a few sources that say ballistic missiles exceed speeds of 5K miles per hour in their terminal phase. This is faster than hypersonic missiles. In their midcourse phase, they go even faster (15K MPH). And they definitely are tracked through both the midcourse and descent phases.

https://travelpander.com/how-fast-does-a-missile-travel/

Ballistic missiles achieve their speeds through a combination of powerful propulsion systems, the physics of trajectory, and the use of advanced technology. These factors work together to enable missiles to travel at incredibly high velocities, often exceeding speeds of 5,000 miles per hour in their terminal phases.


19 posted on 06/21/2025 11:13:50 AM PDT by rbg81 (=)
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To: marcusmaximus

More 2 week extensions?


20 posted on 06/21/2025 11:18:13 AM PDT by del griffith
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