Vice President JD Vance departed for Islamabad, Pakistan, on Friday morning, forecasting “positive” negotiations as he leads the U.S. delegation for peace talks with Iran.
“We’re looking forward to the negotiation. I think it’s going to be positive,” Vance told reporters as he boarded Air Force Two.
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President Donald Trump dispatched Vance to lead the U.S. envoys for this weekend’s negotiations, which aim to find an end to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. The president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff will join Vance as part of the U.S. contingent.
“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. If they’re going to try to play us, then they’re going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive,” Vance said.
Since the United States and Iran agreed to the two-week ceasefire deal on Tuesday evening, the opening of the Strait of Hormuz and Israel’s continued strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon have emerged as sticking points in the peace negotiations, and are likely to be focal points of the peace negotiations.
Iran has maintained that the ceasefire negotiations included the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon, but Vance told reporters this week that the U.S. never agreed to this point.
“We never made that promise,” Vance told reporters on Wednesday. “We never indicated that was going to be the case.”
Iranian state media reported that because of the continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps closed the Strait of Hormuz again in response. The White House has disputed these local reports, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt calling them false and “completely unacceptable.”
Trump has held the complete reopening of the crucial oil shipping waterway as a vital component of any peace agreement the U.S. agrees to. On Friday, Trump issued several warnings to Tehran on Truth Social over the state of the strait.
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“There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait — They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!” Trump said.
This weekend’s peace talks, which will also cover the topic of Iranian enriched uranium, will be a grand test for Vance as he reportedly mulls a run for president in 2028. The vice president will take on one of, if not his largest, displays of statesmanship on a global scale as he meets face to face with Iranian regime leaders.
