New York: JD Vance, leading a high-level American delegation, left for Pakistan on Friday to initiate peace talks with Iran in Islamabad.
Even as the US Vice-President expressed cautious optimism about the results of the proposed weekend meeting, there were reports from Iran that Tehran may not play ball unless the ceasefire applies to Lebanon also.
“We are looking forward to the negotiations. I think it is going to be positive,” Vance said before boarding the plane.
Sounding a note of caution for Iran, Vance added: “If they’re going to try to play us, then they’re going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive.”
“As the President said, if the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we are certainly willing to extend the open hand. If they are not, then they are going to find that we are not that receptive. We are trying to have some positive negotiations,” Vance stressed.
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency earlier reported that “negotiations are suspended” as long as the US does not fulfil its commitment on the Lebanon ceasefire and Israeli strikes continue.
“As long as the US doesn’t fulfil its commitment to the ceasefire in Lebanon and the Zionist regime continues its attacks, negotiations are suspended,” the report said.
Iran also denied reports that a negotiating team
had reached Islamabad for talks with the US, calling the claims “false.”
Iran’s state-affiliated Fars News Agency, Tehran said it has no plans to engage in negotiations with Washington at this stage.
“Until a ceasefire is established in Lebanon, Iran has no plan to participate in peace negotiations in Islamabad with the American side,” Iran’s state-affiliated Fars News Agency quoted an official as saying.
The American side is not thinking about an Iranian pullout.
If the Islamabad meeting does take place, it will be one of the most significant engagements between Washington and Tehran in decades.
Vance said that President Donald Trump is very clear about what he wants. “The President has given us some pretty clear guidelines, and we’ll see how it goes,” said Vance.
How much importance the US is giving the Islamabad talks can be gauged from the fact that the Vance-headed delegation also includes senior figures such as Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Vance was once seen as a relatively insignificant figure in the Trump administration’s handling of the Iran war. But now he has been handed a critical diplomatic role despite limited experience.
Several analysts have questioned the choice of Vance in the leadership role of such sensitive negotiations. Though he served in the Iraq War, Vance has spent a relatively short time in national office.
Asked about skepticism about his role, Vance said: “I don’t know that. I would be surprised if that was true. But, you know, I wanted to be involved because I thought I could make a difference.”
Some experts have suggested that Vance’s comparatively cautious stance on foreign intervention may make him a more acceptable interlocutor for Iran.