Just hours after a U.S. airstrike killed Iran’s top military general, Qassem Soleimani, the White House used a Swiss back-channel to send a message to Tehran urging them against escalation.
The critical encrypted fax was sent through the Swiss Embassy in Iran, further cementing it as one of the few means of direct communication between the U.S. and Iran.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the White House and Iranian officials continued to exchange crucial messages over the following days, which officials on both sides say were much more leveled then their fiery public outbursts.
One week later, and after a retaliatory strike by Iran against two military bases housing American troops that resulted in no casualties, Washington and Tehran appear to be slowly easing tensions.
A senior U.S. official said: ‘We don’t communicate with the Iranians that much, but when we do the Swiss have played a critical role to convey messages and avoid miscalculation.’
The Trump administration sent a back-channel message to Iran after killing Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani asking the country to no escalate the situation
A spokesman at Iran’s mission to the United Nation didn’t disclose information about the messages, but shared a similar sentiment.
‘We appreciate [the Swiss] for any efforts they make to provide an efficient channel to exchange letters when and if necessary,’ the spokesman said.
One Iranian official said the back-channel succeeded in opening a line of communication when others had failed.
Qassem Soleimani (pictured), one of Iran’s top military leaders, was killed in a U.S. airstrike ordered by the Trump administration last week
‘In the desert, even a drop of water matters,’ they said.
The Swiss Embassy’s role as a ‘diplomatic intermediary’ has spanned four decades and seven presidencies, including Jimmy Carter’s hostage crisis and Barack Obama’s nuclear deal.
America’s first message came just after Soleimani, the architect of Iran’s shadow warfare and military expansion in the Middle East death, was confirmed dead, U.S. officials said.
It arrived via an encrypted fax machine kept inside a sealed room of the Swiss mission for the White House to contact Iranian officials.
According to the Wall Street Journal, this is the most enduring method since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Swiss Ambassador Markus Leitner (pictured) is said to regularly visit Washington for meetings with the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence officials to share knowledge of Iran’s politics
Swiss Ambassador Markus Leitner hand delivered America’s message to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Friday morning to an angry response.
Zarif was reportedly upset with the message and at one point singled out U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an official familiar with the exchange said.
‘Pompeo is a bully. The U.S. is the cause of all the problems,’ Zarif said.
Leitner, a 53-year-old career diplomat, is said to regularly visit Washington for meetings with the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence officials set on gaining knowledge about Iran’s politics.
Following the airstrike, Leitner shuffled back and forth between the countries in a vital diplomatic mission meant to let each side speak openly.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (pictured) reportedly received a hand delivered message from a Leitner after the U.S. confirmed the death of Soleimani
However, the White House and Iranian officials engaged in rigid public exchanges.
Iranian General Gholamali Abuhamzeh, a Revolutionary Guards commander in the southern province of Kerman, released a thinly-veiled threat against the U.S.
Abuhamzeh said vital American targets in the region had been identified a ‘long time ago’, including ships in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and Tel Aviv.
‘The Strait of Hormuz is a vital point for the West and a large number of American destroyers and warships cross there … some 35 U.S. targets in the region as well as Tel Aviv are within our reach,’ he said, according to Reuters.
Trump responded to the threat on Twitter, saying the U.S. has targeted 52 Iranian sites that could be hit ‘very fast and hard.’
Trump: ‘we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!’
‘We have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!’
Zarif fired back at Trump the next day, saying: ‘A reminder to those hallucinating about emulating ISIS war crimes by targeting our cultural heritage.’
‘Through MILLENNIA of history, barbarians have come and ravaged our cities, razed our monuments and burnt our libraries. Where are they now? We’re still here, & standing tall,’ he continued.
The following day, Zarif called on Leitner to deliver a message to the U.S. that helped both side preventing ‘miscalculations.’
Pictured: The Swiss Embassy in Tehran, Iran, where messages between the U.S. and Iran funnel through during times of great tension
A senior Trump administration official said: ‘When tensions with Iran were high, the Swiss played a useful and reliable role that both sides appreciated. Their system is like a light that never turns off.’
As of now, Tehran has continued to speak through the Swiss.
The Swiss have served as a constant line of communication between the U.S. and Iran since 1980, following the seizure of 52 hostages and American Embassy in Tehran by Iranian revolutionaries.
The Swiss diplomats call the messenger role ‘brieftrager,’ or ‘the postman.’
Switzerland’s ‘postmen’ helped deliver messages after the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 to avoid direct clashes. When Obama became president, the country hosted talks that resulted in the nuclear deal.
After Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran, he reportedly gave the Swiss a phone number, saying: ‘I’d like to see them call me.’
Former ambassadors told the Wall Street Journal that their diplomatic back-channel is successful because Iran and the U.S. can trust that the message will be delivered quickly and in confidence.
A group of Iranian’s burn the U.S. and Israeli flags during an anti-US protest prompted by the killing during an airstrike of Iranian and Iraqi leaders on Friday
Iraqi Shiite women mourn the death of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Soleimani during a funeral procession made of thousands of citizens held in central Baghdad on SAturday
Additionally, Switzerland uses its position as a ‘postman’ to leverage access to greater power.
Swiss diplomats are currently working to get Washington to approve of Swiss banks financing exports- like food and medicine- to Iran that aren’t sanctions.
‘We do things for the world community, and it’s good, but it is also good for our interests,’ one ambassador said.
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who worked with the Swiss on a prisoner exchange, praised the Swiss’ open channel.
‘The Swiss channel has become enormously important because of what they can do in the short term to lessen tensions. It’s the only viable channel right now,’ he said.