The United States, Pakistan and Iran were holding face-to-face trilateral talks in Islamabad on Saturday, the White House said, as top officials met to try and end the war in the Middle East.
A senior White House official said the three sides were holding the direct talks in person, a departure from recent practice where Washington and Tehran held talks only through a mediator while seated in separate rooms.
The US delegation included Vice President JD Vance, US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the White House said. It did not say who from the Iranian or Pakistani sides was taking part.
Iranian news agencies--Fars and Tasnim--said "it was decided to begin negotiations" following "progress made during preliminary talks and the reduction of attacks by the Zionist regime in southern Beirut in Lebanon", referring to Israel.
According to an Al Jazeera report, the new development comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "pushed, pressured, and instructed" by the US to stop attacking and start talks with Lebanon.
Negotiators disclosed Iran's “redlines” included compensation for damage caused by the American-Israeli strikes and the release of Iran’s frozen assets. The US, on the other hand, has demanded the opening of the Strait of Hormuz as a condition for the two-week ceasefire.
US and Iranian officials claimed leverage and issued new demands and preconditions as talks approached.
Trump calls Iran a 'losing' country
In a recent post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump wrote that Iran has lost as their defence mechanisms have been destroyed and "most importantly, their longtime “Leaders” are no longer with us, praise be to Allah!"
He claimed that the US is "now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the World, including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, and many others."
Trump has been positioning the closure of the Strait as a positive development for the US since talks began on Saturday.
He wrote that the US has an enormous advantage over the 'losing' Iran as "many Nations are all heading to the United States of America to LOAD UP with Oil."
In an earlier post, he claimed that oil tankers "are heading, right now, to the United States to load up with the best and ‘sweetest’ oil (and gas!) anywhere in the World.”
The Iran war has led to the shuttering of the crucial Strait of Hormuz through which 20% of the world’s oil supplies is shipped. The closure has pushed up energy prices and given Iran a key point of leverage in negotiations with the US.
But Trump argues that the US can serve as an alternative source of oil and natural gas, though increased demand for American energy products could further push up prices for consumers unless there is more domestic production.
Hours earlier, President Donald Trump wished Vance good luck. “We’ll find out what’s going on. They’re militarily defeated.”
Foreign Minister Abbas AraghchiIran said his country enters Saturday’s talks with the United States with “deep distrust” because the Islamic Republic was attacked twice during negotiations on its nuclear program.
Araghchi warned that his country would fight back if it was attacked, his office posted on Telegram.
The Iranian official, who spoke with German counterpart Johann Wadeful on Friday, also called for Israeli attacks on Lebanon to stop.
Retired army general and senior defense analyst Tariq Rashid Khan on Saturday said “I think there will be good news, big news this week as a result of the talks."
Khan said Pakistan's Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir had played an important role in bringing the two sides to the negotiating table.
He said Pakistan offered to mediate because any further escalation could spark a wider conflict.
Mohammad Reza Aref, Iran’s first vice president, said on Saturday that peace talks could produce a deal if US officials worked in the interest of their country in line with President Donald Trump’s “America First” doctrine.
“However, if we face representatives of ‘Israel First,’ there will be no deal,” Aref said in a social media post.
He warned that “the world will face greater costs,” if the talks failed and the US and Israel resumed the war against Iran.