Vice President JD Vance will lead the U.S. delegation in the first round of talks with Iran set for Saturday in Islamabad, the White House said, as Washington seeks to build on a fragile ceasefire.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Vance will head the negotiating team alongside envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, according to The Times of Israel.
The talks are expected to begin Saturday in Pakistan’s capital and will focus on turning a temporary truce into a more durable framework, Leavitt said, according to ABC News.
U.S. officials told ABC News the talks could begin as “proximity talks,” with American and Iranian delegations in the same location but communicating through intermediaries, though direct engagement remains possible.
Iran has pushed for Vance to take a leading role and has expressed skepticism about other U.S. negotiators, accusing Witkoff and Kushner of misrepresenting its positions, according to The Times of Israel.
The diplomatic effort comes amid lingering tensions over the scope of the ceasefire, including disputes tied to Israeli military activity in the region and ongoing disagreements over Iran’s nuclear program, ABC News reported.
Vance said this week that there had been a “legitimate misunderstanding” about the terms of the truce and warned Iran that it would be making a mistake if it walked away from negotiations, according to ABC News.
The Islamabad talks are being facilitated in part by Pakistan as both sides test whether the current pause in fighting can open the door to broader agreements on uranium enrichment and regional security, U.S. officials told ABC News.
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