According to Axios, the White House was waiting all Monday for a signal from Tehran to send an Iranian negotiating team to Islamabad.
The website's source said the Iranians were delaying because the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Iran's army) was pressuring negotiators to take a more decisive stance. They were to insist that no talks would be held until the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports ended. Iran's team of negotiators had been waiting for approval from the supreme leader, who, according to the source, gave the green light overnight on Monday. Negotiators from Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey appealed to the Iranians to come to the meeting.
The ceasefire is coming to an end
Two sources said Vance would depart for Pakistan on Tuesday morning EST, while a third said he could fly out sometime Monday night. Trump's envoys Witkoff and Kushner are also scheduled to go to Islamabad.
Vance will arrive in Pakistan just before the current ceasefire with Iran expires. President Trump has threatened that if no agreement is reached, US troops will launch a new bombing campaign against Iran's bridges and power plants. The two-week ceasefire ends on Tuesday night, but the president said he sees Wednesday evening as the deadline for the truce to end.
While striking a full deal in such a short time would be difficult, Trump may agree to an extension if there are signs of progress, Axios wrote.
At the same time, on Monday, the speaker of Iran's parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, stated that Tehran does not accept negotiations “under U.S. threats.” He accused Trump of wanting to transform the negotiating table into a “table of surrender.”
On Monday, Trump argued in an interview with the New York Post that Vance and other members of the delegation were on their way to Pakistan and would land there within a few hours. The White House press office later told the media that it “could not confirm” Vance's departure, and the press reported that the vice president had not yet departed for Islamabad.
