Boarding Air Force Two on his way to Pakistan, the vice president said, “We’re looking forward to the negotiation. I think it’s gonna be positive. We’ll of course see,” the AP reported.
He cited Trump in saying, “If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand.” But he added, “If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”
Vance also said that Trump “gave us some pretty clear guidelines” on how talks should go, but he didn’t elaborate. The vice president did not take questions from reporters traveling with him.
Vance's trip comes as a tenuous, temporary ceasefire appears to be on the precipice of collapsing. The chasm between Iran’s demands and those from the US and Israel seem irreconcilable.
Trump threatened Friday that US warships are being reloaded with weaponry to strike Iran if the talks fail to produce a deal, in an interview with the New York Post.
"We have a reset going. We're loading up the ships with the best ammunition, the best weapons ever made -- even better than what we did previously and we blew them apart," the Post quoted Trump as saying.
"And if we don't have a deal, we will be using them, and we will be using them very effectively."
US team capacity doubts
Vance is joined by Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who took part in three rounds of indirect talks with Iranian negotiators before Trump and Israel launched the 28 February war on Iran.
Britain’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, has attended the final talks between the US and Iran and judged that the offer made by Tehran on its nuclear programme was significant enough to prevent a rush to war, the Guardian has said.
Powell thought progress had been made in Geneva in late February and that the deal proposed by Iran was “surprising”, according to sources.
One source told the British daily that he was in the building at Oman’s ambassadorial residence in Cologny, Geneva, acting as an adviser, reflecting widespread concern about the US expertise on the talks represented by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy on several issues.
Nuclear experts would later say that Witkoff’s pronouncements on the Iran nuclear programme were riddled with basic errors.
The arrival of Vance for negotiations marks a rare moment of high-level US government engagement with the Iranian government. Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the most direct contact had been when President Barack Obama in September 2013 called newly elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.
Vance’s presence is further seen as an attempt to inject official political authority into the negotiations and to address concerns over the experience and coherence of the US negotiating team.
On Wednesday, he however, dismissed speculation that the Iranians requested that he join the talks, telling reporters: “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.”
The White House has provided scant detail about the format of the talks — whether they will be direct or indirect — and has not provided specific expectations for the meeting.
Preconditions for negotiations
Almost immediately after the White House and Iran announced a temporary ceasefire Tuesday evening, the sides found themselves at odds over terms of the truce.
Both Iran and Pakistan, the mediator of the truce, insisted that an end to the Israeli war on Lebanon was part of the ceasefire. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump claimed the truce did not cover Lebanon and the Israeli attacks there continued, killing at least 300 people, including 33 children.
The US, meanwhile, demanded that Iran make good on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Republic had closed the critical shipping waterway in response to Israel’s attacks against Lebanon.
Few hours before the anticipated talks, Iran’s deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi stressed that Tehran welcomes diplomacy but not negotiations that would allow its adversary to prepare for a new attack.
"We do not want a ceasefire that enables the enemy to rearm," according to the Tasnim news agency.
He added that Iran "always welcomes diplomacy, but not dialogue based on false information intended to deceive and pave the way for renewed aggression."
Later, Iran’s parliament speaker, Bagher Ghalibaf said that the negotiations can’t start without a Lebanon ceasefire.
He has said negotiations with the US cannot begin until two key conditions are met: the implementation of a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of frozen Iranian assets.
“Two of the measures mutually agreed upon between the parties have yet to be implemented: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets prior to the commencement of negotiations,” wrote Ghalibaf in a post on X. “These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.”
Earlier, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi sharply criticised the United States over its backing of Israel, warning that Washington risks damaging its own economy if it allows diplomacy to collapse.
"Netanyahu’s criminal trial resumes on Sunday. A ceasefire across the region, including in Lebanon, could hasten his imprisonment. If the United States chooses to damage its own economy by allowing Netanyahu to destroy diplomacy, that will ultimately be its decision. We believe this would be foolish, but we are prepared for it," he said in a post on X.
Lock down in Islamabad
Commandos, police and other security personnel set up barricades as dusk fell along routes linking the airport to the city, particularly those expected to be used by US and Iranian delegations arriving for the talks, AP reported.
During their stay in Pakistan, the two delegations will also meet with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The delegations arriving in Islamabad are scheduled to stay at a hotel where negotiations are expected to take place on Saturday.
Ahead of the talks, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi reviewed security arrangements for the delegations.
In a statement, the Interior Ministry said Islamabad’s Red Zone would be completely sealed on Saturday, with entry restricted to authorized individuals.
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