Update: Vance’s flight on hold as Iran won’t “commit to peace talks”
Vice President JD Vance’s flight remains on hold amid reports of infighting within the Iranian regime over whether to participate in the negotiations in Pakistan.
“Vice President Vance’s planned departure for Islamabad was delayed for hours Tuesday as Iran’s leadership remained divided over whether to participate in a new round of peace talks, according to U.S. officials and sources with knowledge of the situation,” Axios reported Tuesday afternoon.
With the ceasefire deadline fast approaching, the Iranian regime has finally confirmed that a delegation will be traveling to Pakistan for the second round of face-to-face talks with the United States, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
The two-week ceasefire, declared by President Donald Trump on April 7, is set to expire on Wednesday. Iran’s last-minute confirmation comes after days of hardline rhetoric, during which state media declined to confirm Tehran’s participation in the Islamabad talks.
Washington’s participation was never in doubt, with Vice President JD Vance widely expected to lead the talks in Islamabad once again.
“Vice President Vance is expected to depart for Islamabad by Tuesday morning for talks with Iran over a potential deal to end the war,” Axios reported, quoting officials. “The White House spent all of Monday waiting for a signal from Tehran that it would send its negotiating team to Islamabad.”
The Associated Press reports:
Two regional officials said Tuesday that the United States and Iran have signaled they will hold a new round of ceasefire talks in Islamabad as a fragile two-week truce was due to expire. (…)Pakistan-led mediators received confirmation that the top negotiators, U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, will arrive in Islamabad early Wednesday to lead their teams in the talks, the officials told The Associated Press. (…)The ceasefire seemed likely to be extended if talks resume. White House officials have said that Vance would lead the American delegation, but Iran hasn’t said who it might send, and Iranian state television on Tuesday broadcast a message saying that “no delegation from Iran has visited Islamabad … so far.”Iranian state TV long has been controlled by hard-liners within Iran’s theocracy, and the on-screen alert likely reflects the ongoing internal debate within Iran’s theocracy (…).
The talks come amid renewed Iranian aggression, with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) firing on two ships in the Strait of Hormuz—a move set to destabilize the global energy market. Hezbollah, Iran’s terrorist proxy, has launched further attacks in breach of a separate Israel–Lebanon ceasefire.
Ahead of the talks, President Trump assured that the U.S. Armed Forces were “raring to go” if Iran refuses to reach an agreement, Reuters reported:
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he did not want to extend a rapidly expiring ceasefire in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and that the U.S. military was “raring to go” if negotiations were not successful.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY