After last week’s stunning political defeat at home, the Trump administration is looking for new ways to settle the disastrous wars in Ukraine and Iran.

Finding an off-ramp from Iran is the most urgent and difficult challenge, given public anger over the war. President Donald Trump has threatened to resume military action, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has prepared for possible escalation. But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, with Trump’s support, has reached out to China, asking Beijing to use its influence with Iran to end the war. China has delivered that message to Tehran, according to a knowledgeable U.S. official.

After last week’s stunning political defeat at home, the Trump administration is looking for new ways to settle the disastrous wars in Ukraine and Iran.

Finding an off-ramp from Iran is the most urgent and difficult challenge, given public anger over the war. President Donald Trump has threatened to resume military action, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has prepared for possible escalation. But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, with Trump’s support, has reached out to China, asking Beijing to use its influence with Iran to end the war. China has delivered that message to Tehran, according to a knowledgeable U.S. official.

The administration’s Iran diplomacy has been driven by Vice President J.D. Vance, who sent a conciliatory letter last month to Iran’s hard-line security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, and this week blamed the war for the GOP’s crushing midterm defeat. That drew fire from Vance critics, but it earned him some points in the Middle East, according to Ali Al Thawadi, the Qatari official who has been acting as the White House’s intermediary with Tehran.

“Iranian leaders are waiting to see whether this election has really changed American behavior,” Al Thawadi told me Friday. “They saw Vance’s letter as a gesture of respect, and they appreciated that Vance said the war was a mistake. Now they would like the United States to follow through on an issue that seemingly brings Democrats and Republicans together. Like America’s allies in Europe and the Gulf, the Iranian leaders want to be sure that the U.S. is........

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