With the two-week cease-fire almost over, Vice President JD Vance was expected to head to Pakistan on Tuesday for the second round of negotiations.
Despite trading threats and issuing mixed messages in recent days, both the United States and Iran indicated on Monday that they planned to take part in another round of peace talks in Pakistan this week.
Vice President JD Vance was expected to leave Washington for Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, on Tuesday, according to two U.S. officials. Iran did not publicly commit to talks. But two senior Iranian officials said that Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, who attended the last round of negotiations, would attend again if Mr. Vance did.
The possibility of further talks came as Iran threatened to retaliate for the seizure by U.S. forces of an Iranian cargo ship near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday. Iran’s armed forces called it “piracy,” and warned that they would soon retaliate, according to Tasnim, a semiofficial Iranian news agency.
The U.S. Navy has now turned back 27 ships heading for or leaving Iranian ports, according to United States Central Command, as an American blockade enters its second week. Only three ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday as traffic in the economically crucial waterway slowed to a near halt, according to Kpler, a company that tracks maritime traffic.
President Trump said on social media on Monday that “if Iran’s new leaders (Regime Change!) are smart, Iran can have a great and prosperous future!”
Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s president, noted the “deep historical mistrust” between Iran and the United States, but said that war would serve neither country’s interests.