The Trump administration established a secret backchannel to Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during the war, using the president of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region as an intermediary to bypass traditional diplomatic channels and reach Tehran’s military leadership directly, according to Axios.

The unusual effort reportedly began as U.S. officials struggled to determine who inside Iran actually possessed the authority to make decisions during the conflict.

According to Axios, the administration turned to Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, who has extensive ties to both Washington and Tehran. Barzani speaks fluent Persian, previously lived in Iran and studied at Tehran University, while maintaining relationships with senior Iranian and IRGC officials.

Then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reportedly approached Barzani and asked him to help establish direct contact with IRGC commander Gen. Ahmad Vahidi. Gabbard told Barzani that President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were aware of the effort.

Barzani subsequently passed the request through his contacts in Iran.

Four days later, an IRGC representative reportedly arrived at Barzani’s office in Erbil carrying a secure communications device that connected the Kurdish leader directly with Vahidi.

During the call, Barzani sought to determine whether positions being communicated by Iranian representatives through other channels actually had the support of the IRGC leadership.

Vahidi reportedly confirmed that they did and conveyed that Iran was interested in reaching a negotiated solution. Barzani immediately relayed the message to Gabbard, who passed it on to the White House.

Following the breakthrough, U.S. officials attempted to arrange a secret face-to-face meeting between American and Iranian officials in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.

Iranian officials did not immediately reject the proposal but reportedly expressed serious concerns about Israel’s intelligence capabilities in the region and feared that senior Iranian officials traveling to the meeting could be identified and targeted.

The planned meeting ultimately never took place.

According to Axios, Barzani’s channel has nevertheless remained available, and he recently contacted the White House again to offer assistance in restarting communications between Washington and Tehran.

U.S. officials reportedly now believe the primary obstacle is not finding a mediator, but bridging the significant differences between Washington and Tehran, particularly over the Strait of Hormuz.

The revelation highlights the extraordinary lengths the Trump administration went to during the war to establish direct communications with the real centers of power inside Iran — and the extent to which Tehran’s fear of Israeli intelligence operations complicated even secret diplomatic contacts.

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