Vice-President J.D. Vance to lead negotiations in Islamabad as Tehran sets preconditions, Trump warns of military action if diplomacy fails
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenYuanyue Dangin WashingtonandDewey Simin WashingtonPublished: 4:24am, 11 Apr 2026US President Donald Trump on Friday pressed Iran to meet US demands, as Vice-President J.D. Vance travelled to Pakistan to lead high-stakes negotiations seen as a key effort to end the more than month-long Middle East conflict.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed that leaders of both countries had accepted the invitation and would be represented at the negotiating table.
Clouding the talks were Iranian demands, namely a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s frozen assets. Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Friday that “these two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin” even as Vance had already departed for Islamabad.
“The Iranians don’t seem to realise they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways,” Trump said in a social media post on Friday afternoon, in a reference to the Strait of Hormuz.
“The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!” Trump wrote.
