US Vice President JD Vance is expected to depart for Islamabad by Tuesday morning for talks with Iran over a potential deal to end the war, three US sources told Axios Monday night.
Vance will arrive in Pakistan with the ceasefire on the verge of expiring. Trump has threatened to launch a new bombing campaign on Iranian bridges and power plants if a deal cannot be reached.
While a full-scale deal on such a tight timeline would be difficult, Trump could also agree to extend the deadline if there are signs of progress.
Trump already effectively added a day. While the two weeks agreed in the ceasefire will run out on Tuesday, he said on Monday that the deadline was Wednesday evening.
The White House spent all of Monday waiting for a signal from Tehran that it would send its negotiating team to Islamabad, according to Axios.
A source with knowledge said the Iranians were stalling amid apparent pressure from the Revolutionary Guards on the negotiators to hold a firmer line with no talks without an end to the US blockade.
The Pakistani, Egyptian and Turkish mediators urged the Iranians to come to the meeting.
The Iranian team waited for a green light from the Supreme Leader. It came on Monday night, according to the source.
Two sources said Vance would depart on Tuesday morning, while a third said he might leave late Monday night.
Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are also expected to travel to Islamabad for the talks.
The report followed a social media post from a defiant Mohammad Baghar Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian Parliament who headed the Iranian delegation to talks with Iran. Ghalibaf blasted Trump and stated that the Islamic Republic will not negotiate under threats.
“Trump, by imposing a siege and violating the ceasefire, seeks to turn this negotiating table - in his own imagination - into a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering," Ghalibaf wrote.
“We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats, and in the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield," he warned.
Trump later insisted that Iran is “going to negotiate" while warning of consequences if it does not.
“Well, they’re going to negotiate, and if they don’t, they’re going to see problems like they’ve never seen before," the President told “The John Fredericks Show," a conservative radio program.
“Hopefully they’ll make a fair deal, and they’ll build their country back up," Trump continued, adding that when they do so, “they will not have a nuclear weapon."