Vance, U.S. Vice President, to depart for Pakistan on the 21st for 2nd round of negotiations with Iran

U.S. Vice President Vance holds a press conference after the first round of negotiations with Iran failed.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance is expected to depart for Islamabad, Pakistan, the meeting venue, on the 21st (local time) for peace talks with Iran, the U.S. online media Axios reported, citing three sources.

Two sources said that Vice President Vance is scheduled to depart on the morning of the 21st, while another source stated that Vice President Vance could leave late on the night of the 20th.

Steve Witkoff, the President's special envoy, who accompanied Vice President Vance in the first negotiations with Iran on the 11th, and Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law, are also expected to travel to Islamabad for these negotiations.

Currently, the U.S. and Iran are expected to meet again in Islamabad with the ceasefire deadline imminent, but the timing and exact details of the negotiations remain uncertain as Iran has not yet officially announced it will send a delegation.

Previously, President Trump stated in an interview with the New York Post that Vice President Vance was en route to Pakistan and would arrive soon, but Reuters later reported that Vice President Vance was still in the U.S.

The New York Times (NYT) reported, citing two U.S. officials, that Vice President Vance is expected to depart from Washington D.C. for Islamabad on the 21st.

Furthermore, two Iranian officials told the NYT that if Vice President Vance appears at the negotiation table, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, who led the Iranian delegation in the first negotiations, would also participate.

According to Axios, the Trump administration waited all day on the 20th for a message from Iran confirming they would send a negotiating team to Islamabad.

One source said that the Iranian government was stalling for time, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps pressuring the negotiating team to maintain a hardline stance that they could not talk without the U.S. lifting its blockade on Iran.

The Iranian negotiating team was awaiting a decision from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, and approval for the negotiations was granted on the night of the 20th, the source added.