Iran War
Live Updates: Vance Lands in Pakistan for Peace Talks With Iran
There was
uncertainty about whether a cease-fire would hold and the two sides could reach
a long-term deal. Vice President JD Vance struck an optimistic but cautious
tone before he left for the talks.
Elian
Peltier Tyler
Pager and John YoonElian Peltier and Tyler Pager reported from Islamabad,
Pakistan.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/11/world/iran-war-trump-talks-pakistan
Here’s
the latest.
Vice
President JD Vance arrived in Pakistan on Saturday for peace talks with Iranian
officials, as disagreements over Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz threatened a
fragile cease-fire.
Mr. Vance
was joined in Islamabad by President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and
son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The Iranian delegation, which includes Foreign
Minister Abbas Araghchi and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s
Parliament, had arrived earlier in the Pakistani capital.
The
stakes are high. In a Friday address to his nation, Prime Minister Shehbaz
Sharif of Pakistan said the planned U.S. meeting with Iran was a “make or
break” moment.
The war,
which began on Feb. 28 with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, has killed thousands,
destabilized the Middle East and damaged the world economy as global energy
prices skyrocketed because of Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
The full
reopening of the strait, a vital passage for oil and gas, will be among the
priorities for Mr. Vance during the negotiations in Pakistan. Iran’s military
signaled on Friday that it would maintain control of the waterway, saying in a
statement carried by Iranian state media that it would “not give up our
legitimate rights in any way.”
Israel’s
military campaign in Lebanon against Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group,
has also threatened to derail the Pakistan-brokered cease-fire. Despite Mr.
Trump’s request to scale back its assault, Israel on Friday kept up its
airstrikes in southern Lebanon against what it said were Hezbollah-linked
targets.
And hours
before the Iranians arrived in Pakistan, Mr. Ghalibaf, one of the key figures
overseeing the war for Iran, cast doubt that the talks would even take place.
He laid out a new condition for the negotiations on social media, demanding the
release of unspecified “blocked assets” belonging to Iran before talks began.
Mr. Trump
suggested on social media that Iran was overplaying its hand. “The Iranians
don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of
the World by using International Waterways,” he wrote, referring to Iran’s
continued control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Mr. Vance
struck an optimistic but cautious tone as he left for the talks. “I think it’s
going to be positive,” he told reporters. But he warned that if the Iranians
were “going to try to play us, then they’re going to find that the negotiating
team is not that receptive.”
Here’s
what else we’re covering:
Strait of
Hormuz: Only two ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. Hundreds
more are waiting on either side because their owners are still reluctant to
attempt to navigate it. U.S. officials said one reason Iran had been unable to
get more ships through was that it could not locate all of the mines it laid in
the waterway and lacked the capability to remove them.
Shroud of
Uncertainty: Israel and Lebanon’s ambassadors to the United States are expected
to meet in Washington next week for direct talks, but a settlement to end the
war in Lebanon is not expected imminently. In Pakistan, the authorities have
disclosed almost no details about the talks scheduled for this weekend,
including where they will be held.
Displaced
in Lebanon: More than a million people — roughly a fifth of the population —
have been forced from their homes since the renewed war erupted last month
between Israel and Hezbollah. And many have nowhere to go. Take a closer look
in photos and video here.
Death
tolls: The Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 1,701 civilians,
including 254 children, had been killed in Iran as of Wednesday. Lebanon’s
health ministry on Friday said that at least 1,953 people had been killed in
the latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, including 357 in a wave of
Israeli strikes on Wednesday. In attacks attributed to Iran, at least 32 people
have been killed in Gulf nations. In Israel, at least 20 people had been killed
as of Monday. The American death toll stands at 13 service members.





