US Vice President JD Vance on Friday left for Pakistan to take part in peace talks with Iran, expressing optimism about the negotiations while warning against any lack of sincerity from Tehran. While addressing reporters before his departure, Vance said the United States is open to constructive engagement if Iran approaches the discussions in good faith.
We’re looking forward to the negotiation: JD Vanceย
“We’re looking forward to the negotiation. I think it’s going to be positive. 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,” he said.
President Donald Trump has tasked the member of his inner circle who has seemed to be the most reluctant defender of the conflict with Iran to now find a resolution to the war that began six weeks ago and stave off the US president’s astonishing threat to wipe out its “whole civilisation.”
JD vance to lead mediated talks with Iran
JD Vance, who has long been sceptical of foreign military interventions and outspoken about the prospect of sending troops into open-ended conflicts, set off Friday to lead mediated talks with Iran in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.
Boarding Air Force Two on his way to Pakistan, the vice president said, “We’re looking forward to the negotiation. I think it’s gonna be positive. We’ll, of course, see.” He cited Trump in saying, “If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand.” But he added, “If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”
Trump has given us pretty clear guidelines: Vanceย
JD Vance also said that Trump “gave us some pretty clear guidelines” on how talks should go, but he didn’t elaborate. The vice president did not take questions from reporters travelling with him.
Vance’s trip comes as a tenuous, temporary ceasefire appears to be on the precipice of collapsing. The chasm between Iran’s public demands and those from the US and its partner Israel seems irreconcilable. And in the US, where Vance might ask voters in two years’ time to make him the next president, there is growing political and economic pressure to wrap it up.
JD Vance is joined by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who took part in three rounds of indirect talks with Iranian negotiators aimed at settling US concerns about Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic weapons programs and its support for armed proxy groups in the Middle East before Trump and Israel launched the Feb. 28 war against Iran. The White House has provided scant detail about the format of the talks – whether they will be direct or indirect – and has not provided specific expectations for the meeting.
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