DM Monitoring
The delegation from Iran touched down in Islamabad late on Friday night ahead of ceasefire talks with the United States, with US Vice President JD Vance and his delegation en route to Pakistan.
The talks are taking place during a two-week halt in the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began with the former launching attacks on the latter on February 28. An appeal by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier this week led to a pause in the fighting, with negotiations scheduled for Saturday.
Iran’s semi-official news agency Tasnim reports that the Iranian delegation, led by parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, comprises Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the secretary of the Defence Council, the governor of Iran’s central bank and lawmakers.
Tasnim has mentioned that negotiations will not begin, however, until “preconditions” are met, echoing a message from Ghalibaf earlier in the day.
“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,” he said in a post on X. “These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.”
Earlier today, Vance departed for Islamabad to lead an American delegation for the talks. Before leaving, he told reporters at Joint Base Andrews that he was looking forward to the upcoming negotiations with Iran and that he expected the talks in Islamabad to be positive.
He also said US President Donald Trump gave him “some pretty clear guidelines” on negotiations.
Vance further stated: “As the US president said, if the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand. If they’re going to try to play us, then they’re going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.“
