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.

 

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.