Vice President JD Vance departed Joint Base Andrews on Friday morning for Islamabad, Pakistan, where he will lead nuclear negotiations with Iran this weekend amid a fragile two-week ceasefire that President Trump has already threatened to revoke.
The high-stakes trip comes as Trump accused Iran on Thursday of violating the terms of the pause by failing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz. That is not the agreement we have!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Vance will be accompanied by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Wednesday. Talks are scheduled to begin Saturday morning, local time.
Before boarding the plane, Vance struck a measured but firm tone.
“As the president of the United States 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,” he said.
“So we’re going to try to have a positive negotiation. The president gave us some pretty clear guidelines, and we’re gonna see,” Vance added.
Trump announced the ceasefire Tuesday. Leavitt stressed it is conditioned entirely on the strait reopening “free, safe, and immediately” and added that means “without limitation, including tolls.”
The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply. Iranian forces have used it as leverage since the conflict escalated, threatening to shut down shipping lanes to pressure Western nations and squeeze oil markets.
Leavitt said the language is not open to interpretation: “That’s very plain language, and it should be taken at face value.”
The choice of Pakistan as the negotiating venue signals an effort to use a Muslim-majority regional partner as a neutral ground, one with long-standing ties to both the United States and the broader Islamic world. Pakistan has served as a back-channel intermediary in past U.S. negotiations with adversaries.
Vance at 41 is the youngest vice president in decades. His selection to lead the talks marks a significant diplomatic role for a figure who built his political identity on populist skepticism of foreign entanglements. The administration has framed the mission as an extension of Trump’s “maximum pressure” strategy, with the ceasefire serving as a short window for Iran to de-escalate before consequences resume.
