Vice President JD Vance is expected to fly to Islamabad on Tuesday morning to resume talks with Iran on a potential deal to end the war, three US officials said. Axios. The trip comes as a two-week truce brokered by President Donald Trump teeters on the brink of expiring — and as Tehran’s own negotiators were given a last-minute green light by Iran’s supreme leader to attend the talks, an Axios report said.
US Vice President Vance is heading to Islamabad as the ceasefire deadline looms
Diplomatic pressure comes at a moment of acute urgency. Trump announced the ceasefire on April 7, and while the two-week window was set to end on Tuesday, the president told reporters on Monday that the deadline had effectively been extended to “Wednesday evening Washington time”.
JD Vance will not be traveling alone. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff are expected to travel to Pakistan for the talks. Trump himself said he would like to attend in person, but did not believe his presence would be necessary.
“There’s going to be a meeting. They want a meeting, and they should want a meeting. And it might turn out well,” Trump said.
Behind the scenes, the White House spent Monday anxiously waiting for a signal from Tehran confirming it would send a negotiating team to Islamabad. The Iranians stalled, caught between pressure from the Revolutionary Guards to hold a firmer line and diplomatic support from Pakistani, Egyptian and Turkish mediators to force them to the table, according to an official familiar with the dynamic. The Supreme Leader’s permission arrived on Monday evening.
Iran says no talks are under threat – but is sending a team anyway
Tehran’s public stance remained defiant. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the country had no plans for new talks with the United States and accused Washington DC of undermining diplomacy by violating the ceasefire.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian added his voice to the skepticism when he wrote on X that “there remains a deep historical mistrust of Iran towards the behavior of the US government” and declared that “Iranians do not stoop to violence”.
The divisions within Tehran’s own camp ran deeper than public statements suggested. Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf broke with hardliners, criticizing opponents of a potential deal as “extremist” actors undermining negotiations. He also expressed concern over growing political pressure on himself and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, according to Iran International.
Trump’s ultimatum: No deal, no open strait
Trump expressed his position on the Strait of Hormuz clearly. The critical waterway through which a significant share of the world’s energy supplies flows will remain blocked until a deal is signed.
“The Iranians are desperate to have it open. I’m not opening it until the deal is signed,” Trump said in a phone interview Monday.
Iran had previously announced it would reopen the strait to international shipping, but reversed course when Trump refused to lift the US blockade. Over the weekend, US naval forces seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman, a move that further stoked tensions.
“I’ve got it closed. I took their ship. I’ve got five other ships that I’m going to take today if I have to,” Trump said.
The president also ruled out extending the truce if no deal materializes, although he acknowledged that the deadline has moved.
“I’m not in a rush to make a bad deal. We have all the time in the world,” he said. Then in the same breath, “It’s highly unlikely that I’d extend it.”
Nuclear weapons and enriched uranium: The toughest issue on the table
Across the strait, the most intractable dispute concerns Iran’s nuclear program. Trump is demanding that Iran formally renounce any nuclear weapon ambitions and give up its stockpile of enriched uranium. Tehran has refused to give up its uranium, saying its nuclear activities are purely for peaceful purposes.
Trump and his advisers have deliberately cultivated ambiguity about what will happen if the truce collapses, viewing strategic uncertainty as a source of negotiating leverage. But that very ambiguity carries risks—not least the potential for catastrophic misreadings between two parties that already operate with deep mutual suspicion.
The president has threatened to launch a new bombing campaign targeting Iran’s bridges and power plants if a deal is not reached.
Markets on edge as oil crosses $95 a barrel
Financial markets watched the proceedings with barely concealed anxiety. Stocks retreated from record highs on Monday, snapping a five-day winning streak, after Trump’s comments that the truce was unlikely to be extended. Oil prices surged, with Brent crude trading near $95 a barrel in New York by early afternoon – up more than five percent on the day – as investors weighed the risk of a long-term disruption to energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
The war, which began in late February when the US and Israel struck Iran, has already sparked a global energy crisis. Iranian forces responded to these initial strikes by striking U.S. bases throughout the region and destroying oil and gas infrastructure belonging to U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf.
Trump under pressure at home to end war
Diplomatic pressure is not only driven by geopolitical calculus. Trump faces growing domestic pressure to end the conflict, with polls consistently showing a majority of Americans disapprove of the war. The president campaigned on keeping the U.S. out of foreign entanglements and keeping consumer prices down—two commitments that were significantly undermined by the decision to enter the conflict.
The war has already lasted the four to six weeks that Trump originally predicted. He repeatedly assured the public that the conclusion was near, and at the same time called for patience.
“How many decades did Vietnam last, right? Vietnam lasted years. Afghanistan lasted years. They all lasted years,” Trump said. “I will not let treasonous senators and treasonous congressmen rush me into making a bad deal.”
Despite mistrust on both sides, U.S. and Iranian officials say there remains a real chance of a deal in the coming days — one that could effectively end the fighting, even if it would have to be followed by deeper negotiations on nuclear and military issues.
Talks between U.S. and Iranian negotiators are expected to take place in Pakistan on Tuesday or Wednesday, ahead of the truce deadline Trump set for Wednesday evening Washington time.
