U.S., Iran delegations head to Islamabad as Tehran demands measures before talks start

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Apr 10, 2026 5:12 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 minute ago

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance departed on Friday for "make-or-break" negotiations with Iran, even as Tehran insisted on measures before peace talks could take place, throwing last-minute doubt over the meetings scheduled in Pakistan.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire in the six-week war on Tuesday, just ‌hours before a deadline after which the U.S. president had threatened to destroy Iran's civilization.

The ceasefire has halted U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran.

But it has not ended Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has caused the biggest-ever disruption to global energy supplies, or calmed a parallel war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

WATCH | Trump's threats raise questions:

Iran's parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on X that Washington had previously agreed to unblock Iranian assets and to a ceasefire in Lebanon, and added that talks would not start ​until those pledges are fulfilled.

His position was echoed by Foreign Minister Abbas Araqhchi, who also demanded an ​end to Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon.

Israel and the U.S. have said the campaign against militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon is not part of the agreed ceasefire.

Iran announced Friday that its delegation, led by Qalibaf, had arrived in Islamabad, ahead of Vance. The Iranian delegation for the talks also includes the foreign minister Araghchi; Ali Akbar Ahmadian, secretary of the Supreme National Defence Council; Central Bank Governor Abdolnasser Hemmati; and several lawmakers, according to Iranian state television.

Trump claims Iran has 'no cards'

While there was no immediate comment from the White House, Trump said in a social media post that the only reason the Iranians were alive was to negotiate a deal.

"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!" he said.

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance speaks to media at Joint Base Andrews, Md., before boarding Air Force Two on Friday, for his expected departure to Pakistan to attend talks on Iran. (Jacquelyn Martin/Reuters)

Vance, who will lead the U.S. ⁠delegation, said he expected a positive outcome as he headed to Pakistan, but added: "If they're going to ‌try to play us, then they're going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive."

Vali Nasr, professor of international affairs and Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, says he believes the Iranians want Vance in the room, to ensure they are getting their message through to Trump.

"I think the level of participation in these talks is the highest that the Trump administration and Iran have had before," he told CBC's Front Burner podcast.

Nasr says Iran wanted a level of access above U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kusher, the president's son-in-law, who are also part of the talks in Islamabad, as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier this week.

Nasr said it appears to be Tehran's perspective that "they didn't have grasp of the issues" and "perhaps misrepresented" to the White House what had been achieved in a prior round of talks in Geneva.

'A make-or-break phase': Pakistan PM

Iran has been unable to obtain tens of billions of dollars of its assets in foreign banks, mainly from exports of oil and gas, due to U.S. sanctions on its banking and energy sectors.

An image of slain Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen on a billboard in Tehran's Valiasr Square on Friday. (AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a national address on Friday night, laid out the stakes of the talks.

"The permanent ceasefire is the next difficult phase, which is to resolve the complicated issues through negotiation. ⁠This, as called in English, is a make-or-break phase," Sharif said.

The hard line taken by Iran's leaders ahead of the negotiations followed a defiant message from its new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on Thursday.

Khamenei, yet ​to be seen in public since taking over from his father, who was killed on the war's first day, said Iran would demand compensation for all wartime damage.

"We will certainly not leave unpunished the criminal aggressors who attacked our country," he said.

Not all of Trump's stated aims achieved

Although Trump has ⁠declared victory and degraded Iran's military capabilities, the war has not achieved many of the aims he set out at the start: to deprive Iran of the ability to strike its neighbours, dismantle ⁠its nuclear program, and make it easier for its people to overthrow their government.

U.S. President Donald Trump is seen leaving the White House's press briefing room after a news conference earlier this week. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/The Associated Press)

Iran still possesses missiles and drones capable of hitting its neighbours and a stockpile of more than ⁠400 kilograms of uranium enriched near the level needed to make a bomb. ​Its clerical rulers, who faced a popular uprising just months ago, withstood the onslaught with no sign of organized opposition.

Tehran's agenda at the talks includes major new concessions, including the end of sanctions that ​crippled its economy for years, and acknowledgment of its authority ⁠over the strait, where it aims to collect transit fees and control access in what would amount to a huge shift in regional power.

Iran's ships were sailing through the strait unimpeded on Friday, while those of other countries remained hemmed inside.

Disruption to energy supplies has fed inflation and slowed the global economy, with an impact expected to last for months even if negotiators succeed in reopening the strait.