Trump sending VP Vance to Pakistan for Iran talks on Saturday: White House

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump is sending Vice President JD Vance and other negotiators to the Pakistani capital for talks with Iran that will begin on Saturday, the White House said.

Trump “is dispatching his negotiating team led by the vice president of the United States, JD Vance, special envoy (Steve) Witkoff and Mr (Jared) Kushner to Islamabad for talks this weekend,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a news conference.

JD Vance is the Vice President of the US, Steve Witkoff is the US’ Special Envoy to the Middle East, and Jared Kushner is Trump’s son-in-law and a former senior adviser to the US president during his first term.

The development comes after a two-week ceasefire was announced between the US and Iran, brokered by Pakistan.

The US will work closely with Iran and the two countries are discussing tariff and sanctions relief, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, following the announcement of the ceasefire.

Trump pulled back from the brink of a threatened full-on assault on Iran on Tuesday night, two hours before a deadline he had set for Tehran to open the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had requested that Trump make a two-week extension to a deadline he imposed on Iran to end its blockade of Gulf oil. Later, in an announcement on social media, Trump said he had agreed to a two-week ceasefire.

However, Israel continued its strikes on Lebanon, saying the ceasefire did not include Lebanon.

Israel carried out its heaviest strikes on Lebanon since the conflict with Hezbollah broke out last month, even as Hezbollah paused attacks on northern Israel and ​Israeli troops in Lebanon under the US-Iran ceasefire. Consecutive explosions shook Beirut, sending smoke billowing across the capital, as Israel’s military said it had launched the largest coordinated strike of the ‌war.

The attacks came despite PM Shehbaz stating that the ceasefire did inlcude Lebanon.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi raised “ceasefire violations” by Israel with Pakistani mediators, an Iranian ministry statement said, as reports citing senior officials warned that Tehran could pull out of the truce over attacks on Lebanon.

Araghchi “discussed the Zionist regime’s violations of the ceasefire in Iran and Lebanon”, referring to Israel, in a call with Field Marshal Asim Munir, the statement said.