WASHINGTON — President Trump is sending a team led by Vice President JD Vance to Pakistan to negotiate an end to the US-Israeli war with Iran following the cease-fire announced Tuesday.
Special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner also will participate in the weekend talks in Islamabad.
“The first round of those talks will take place on Saturday morning local time,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing.
“Vice President Vance has played a very significant and a key role in this since the very beginning. Of course he’s the president’s right-hand man,” Leavitt said.
“He’s been involved in all of these discussions, and as I just announced, he’ll be leading this new phase of negotiations in Islamabad later this week.”
Trump told The Post hours earlier that Vance might not attend due to security concerns.
“We’ll have Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, JD — maybe JD, I don’t know. There’s a question of safety, security,” Trump said in a phone interview.
President Trump spoke to The Post about direct talks with Iran. AFP via Getty Images
Follow The Post’s live coverage of President Trump and national politics for the latest news and analysis
Trump said the in-person talks would happen “very soon, actually — it’s going to take place very soon.”
Iran’s participation in the talks is in flux, as is the fragile cease-fire itself, which ended 39 days of fighting.
Iran told regional mediators it won’t attend talks without a cease-fire in Lebanon and has conditioned the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on Israel ending its attacks on Hezbollah, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Israel has agreed to stop firing on Iran, but said its ground operations in Lebanon would not be halted.
Iranians react to a cease-fire deal in Tehran on April 8, 2026. AFP via Getty Images
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged all parties to show restraint so that diplomacy can work.
“Violations of ceasefire have been reported at few places across the conflict zone which undermine the spirit of peace process,” Sharif, who has been acting as a mediator, said on X. “I earnestly and sincerely urge all parties to exercise restraint and respect the ceasefire for two weeks, as agreed upon, so that diplomacy can take a lead role towards peaceful settlement of the conflict.”
Follow The Post’s coverage of the United States’ airstrikes on Iran:
The president on Tuesday accepted Iran’s 10-point counter-proposal on ending the conflict as a “workable basis on which to negotiate” a permanent deal — after US negotiators relayed 15 points, though some of the demands seem unlikely to be finalized.
Leavitt said that Iran’s wish-list “was literally thrown in the garbage by President Trump.”
Trump launched the war alongside Israel on Feb. 28, with the White House identifying four core objectives, including ending Tehran’s nuclear program, destroying its navy, wrecking its ballistic missile production sites and ending its support for proxies.
Iranians burn US and Israeli flags in Tehran on April 8, 2026. ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH/EPA/Shutterstock
The cease-fire included an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping after Iran closed the crucial waterway throughout the war.
The conflict’s final resolution is likely to address Iran’s plan to charge tolls for ships and focus on securing deeply buried enriched uranium.
Although Iran’s proposed fees on ships could constitute a new affirmation of Tehran’s control over a fifth of global oil exports, Trump on Wednesday floated a “joint venture” where the US also collects fees.
In recent remarks, Trump stressed that blocking Iran’s path toward developing a nuclear bomb is his top goal. Following the cease-fire, he said, he intends to collect the roughly 1,000 pounds of 60% enriched uranium that the country is believed to possess.
JD Vance called the cease-fire “fragile.” AP
“The United States will work closely with Iran, which we have determined has gone through what will be a very productive Regime Change! There will be no enrichment of Uranium, and the United States will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried (B-2 Bombers) Nuclear ‘Dust,’” Trump wrote Wednesday morning on social media.
“It is now, and has been, under very exacting Satellite Surveillance (Space Force!). Nothing has been touched from the date of attack. We are, and will be, talking Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran. Many of the 15 points have already been agreed to.”
