As we reported earlier, Vice President JD Vance is off to Pakistan to take part in the ceasefire negotiations with Iran. Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are also involved in the talks.
On the Iranian side are the Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf
Vance said as he was leaving that the U.S. was certainly willing to listen to any good-faith negotiations. But he warned, "If they're going to try to play us, then they're going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive."
President Donald Trump on Thursday also warned Iran that part of the agreement was that they had to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and that they should not be trying to charge for transit through it.
However, Ghalibaf still appeared to be playing games with an X post he made this morning.
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.
These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.
Yet, it wasn't agreed to, according to the U.S. Nor was it in either of the two statements released, one by Trump, the other by Araghchi. The fact that they want it now, to protect their terrorist proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon, affirms how tied they are to them. They shouldn't get any assets unfrozen unless and until there's a real commitment and follow-through that they won't be used against their neighbors or us to fund war or their terrorist proxies.
Trump had another message to the Iranians.
"The Iranians don't seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short-term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate."
It's typical of the Iranians to bluster and lie to try to save face, but Trump is right.
But this might finally have gotten through to the Iranians. Israel and Lebanon are talking and are supposed to meet for discussions in Washington on Tuesday. There are reports that they might discuss a possible ceasefire, according to the BBC, citing the Lebanese president's office. Nothing has been confirmed yet. And it looks like the Iranians are then caving on that demand, since they went to Pakistan anyway and have arrived there, despite what they said. So much for Ghalibaf's statement. They wouldn't be coming to Pakistan if they thought they had options or were winning.
Hopefully, Vance and the team should be able to assess relatively quickly whether they can be taken seriously and aren't just trying to buy time. But bottom line? All the forces are still there, with everything at the ready if need be, as Trump said.
“We’re going to find out in about 24 hours. We’re going to know soon,” Trump said in a phone interview when asked if he thought the talks would be successful.
“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,” he said.
“But we’re loading up the ships. We’re loading up the ships with the best weapons ever made, even at a higher level than we use to do a complete decimation.
“And if we don’t have a deal, we will be using them, and we will be using them very effectively.” [....]
“You’re dealing against people that we don’t know whether or not they tell the truth,” Trump told The Post.
“To our face, they’re getting rid of all nuclear weapons, everything’s gone. And then they go out to the press and say, ‘No, we’d like to enrich.’ So we’ll find out.”