LIVE! Iran delegation arrives in Pakistan for US 'ceasefire' talks

Don't play, Vance warns Iran ahead of talks

US Vice-President J D Vance on Friday warned Iran not to “play” the US as he headed overseas for negotiations aimed at ending the war.

President Donald Trump has tasked the member of his inner circle who has seemed to be the most reluctant defender of the six-week-old conflict with Iran to now find a resolution and stave off the US president's astonishing threat to wipe out its “whole civilisation”.

Vance, who has long been scepticalns are willing to negotiate in good faith, we're certainly willing to extend the open hand,” Vance told reporters before boarding Air Force Two to make his way to the talks in Pakistan.

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's trip comes as a tenuous, temporary ceasefire appears to be on the precipice of collapsing.

The chasm between Iran's public demands and those from the US and its partner Israel seems irreconcilable. And in the US, where Vance might ask voters in two years' time to make him the next president, there is growing political and economic pressure to wrap it up.

As Vance made his way to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said in a social media post that a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel is targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, and the release of blocked Iranian assets “must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.” He did not elaborate further.

What Trump told JD Vance before the latter's departure for Pakistan

President Donald Trump has expressed confidence ahead of talks between the United States and Iran on a resolution to the conflict, expected to start Saturday in Islamabad, with Vice-President JD Vance leading the US delegation.

“I wished him luck. He's got a big thing,” Trump said in his parting message to Vance before he began his journey to lead the president's delegation for the critical talks.

“We'll find out what's going on. They're militarily defeated.” Trump, who spoke to reporters before boarding Air Force One to head to a Friday evening fundraiser in Charlottesville, Virginia, also reiterated his confidence that the Strait of Hormuz will soon be opened up.

“And now we're going to open up the Gulf with or without them,” Trump said, referring to the Iranians, who have effectively shuttered the critical waterway.

“But that'll be open,” he said.

Iran delegation arrives in Islamabad ahead of US peace talks

The Iranian delegation has arrived in Islamabad ahead of scheduled peace talks with the United States later on Saturday, as Pakistan steps into the spotlight as a key diplomatic intermediary in one of the world's most closely watched geopolitical standoffs.

Pakistan has spent the last several weeks quietly shuttling between Tehran and Washington, leveraging its historic ties with Iran to lay the groundwork for the talks. The effort has won rare public praise from US President Donald Trump, who noted that the head of Pakistan's armed forces, General Asim Munir, knows Iran "better than most."

The talks follow what Trump described as a significant diplomatic signal from Tehran. The U.S. president said Washington had received a 10-point proposal from Iran, which he called "a workable basis on which to negotiate" — language that has raised cautious optimism on both sides.

US vice-president JD Vance has flown to Islamabad to lead the American side of the discussions. Before his departure, Trump offered a characteristically brief send-off. "I wished him luck," the president told reporters while boarding a plane bound for Charlottesville, Virginia.

Trump tempered expectations around a swift resolution, saying he was uncertain whether the talks would conclude in a single round or stretch across several weeks. When pressed on whether the administration had a contingency plan should the discussions fail, the president was dismissive. "You don't need a back-up plan," he said.