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On Saturday morning, Vice President Vance touched down in Islamabad, spearheading discussions between the U.S. and Iran, facilitated by Pakistan, as a fragile ceasefire teeters on the brink of collapse.
Vance was joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff and political adviser Jared Kushner, who is also President Trump’s son-in-law. Pakistan’s delegation was led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, with key contributions from the nation’s interior and foreign ministers.
The press was not granted access to the meeting.
Meanwhile, the Iranian representatives are engaging with additional mediators elsewhere in the city.
These talks were prompted by President Trump’s recent declaration of a two-week halt in military actions, occurring over a month after the U.S. and Israel initiated a collaborative military campaign in Iran.
Vance told reporters before departing for Islamabad on Friday that he was anticipating a “positive” negotiation process.
“As the president of the United States said, if the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand,” the vice president said. “If they’re going to try to play us, they’re going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive, so we’re going to try to have a positive negotiation.”
He added that Trump “gave us some pretty clear guidelines, and we’re going to see.”
President Trump tells me he has “no idea” how talks are going to go today between the U.S. and Iran. I asked, “are you hopeful?” He said, “Whatever, otherwise we’ll reset. We’re ready to go.”
Trump told NewsNation in a phone call Saturday that he has “no idea” how the talks will go. Asked if he’s “hopeful,” the president said, “Whatever, otherwise we’ll reset. We’re ready to go.”
In a post on Truth Social early Saturday, he also signaled there are “massive numbers of completely empty oil tankers” en route to the U.S. “to load up with the best and ‘sweetest’ oil (and gas!) anywhere in the world.”
“We have more oil than the next two largest oil economies combined — and higher quality,” he wrote. “We are waiting for you. Quick turnaround!”
The Iranian regime threatened to pull out of the agreement following Israeli strikes in Beirut. The U.S. and Israel have argued that Lebanon was not part of the ceasefire deal, though Pakistani mediators and Iran disagreed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said he would be open to negotiations with Lebanon — after pressure from Trump.
The conflict with Iran has driven up global energy costs, after Iranian counterstrikes in the Gulf region effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil trading corridor. After the ceasefire deal, Tehran announced they would begin charging ships to pass through the strait.
Trump condemned these new tolls on Thursday, saying Iran “better stop now.” The rhetoric came a day after the president told ABC News that his administration was considering a “joint venture” with Iran on these fees.