US President Donald Trump said on November 12 that the United States did not need a deal with Iran and that he had asked Vice President JD Vance to focus entirely on what Trump called serious corruption and crime in Democratic-led cities and states. In a social media post, Trump also claimed that the US controlled hundreds of billions of dollars belonging to Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. Those claims were his, not independently established in the report.

The remarks cast doubt on the status of US-Iran contacts. Multiple media outlets had reported that Vance participated in indirect talks with Iran over the preceding two weeks, seeking a new ceasefire agreement and a return to nuclear negotiations. Reports on November 11 said he was considering a face-to-face meeting with Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Trump had reportedly authorized Vance to negotiate, but Iranian media quoted Rezaei denying that a meeting was planned and calling the reports baseless.

Rezaei also said on November 12 that European military bases involved in any renewed US attack on Iran would become targets. According to the report, the two countries had recently avoided large-scale fighting, though smaller clashes, a maritime blockade and a struggle over control of the Strait of Hormuz continued. On November 9, after meeting Qatar’s prime minister at the White House, Trump had said military operations against Iran were “effectively over.”

Separately, Xinhua cited Iranian state broadcaster IRIB as reporting that Iran’s Assembly of Experts called on authorities on November 12 to consider withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, reassess the country’s defense strategy and establish what it described as necessary deterrence. The statement was a call for consideration, not an announcement that Iran had withdrawn from the treaty.

The account also cited reporting that Vance’s planned Thanksgiving-week trip to the Caribbean and South America had been canceled. According to The New York Times, officials were told the previous week that a stop in the Dominican Republic was canceled; the remaining stops, including Colombia, Argentina and Chile, were canceled on November 9.

Original article, published November 13, 2026, citing Xinhua and other reporting.