The VP told reporters Iran will find US negotiators unreceptive to games, while Tehran's foreign minister said Iran enters talks with deep distrust.
Before boarding his flight to Islamabad, Vice President JD Vance issued a blunt warning to Tehran: "If they're going to try to play us, then they're going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive." Trump amplified the message from Washington, posting that Iranian officials "have no cards" left to play after six weeks of war that has crippled their military infrastructure and left the country's economy strangled by sanctions. The tone was unmistakable — the US arrived in Pakistan projecting strength, not desperation.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi fired back that Tehran enters the talks with "deep distrust," pointing to the fact that the US struck Iran during earlier rounds of indirect negotiations. The Iranian delegation also includes Ali Akbar Ahmadian, secretary of the Supreme National Defense Council, and Central Bank Governor Abdolnasser Hemmati — a lineup that signals Tehran is prepared to talk economics and security simultaneously. Ghalibaf, leading the delegation, wrote on social media that Washington had previously committed to unfreezing Iranian assets and securing a Lebanon ceasefire — promises he intends to hold the Americans to.
The two rival peace plans now on the table reveal just how far apart the sides remain. The US wants nuclear disarmament, open shipping lanes, and restrictions on Iran's missile program. Iran wants sovereignty over Hormuz, the end of all sanctions, and a US military withdrawal from the Middle East. Notably, the Persian and English versions of Iran's own proposal differ on the critical question of uranium enrichment — a discrepancy that could either be diplomatic ambiguity or a trap. Vance has days, not weeks, to find common ground before the two-week ceasefire expires and the pressure to resume hostilities becomes overwhelming.