US Vice President JD Vance’s scheduled visit to Pakistan has reportedly been put on hold with just hours left the two-week ceasefire with Iran to end. According to New York Times, the VP’s visit has been deferred for now because of Iran’s failure to respond to the US’s negotiating position ahead of talks.
A US official told the publication that while the talks aren’t cancelled, the “diplomatic process is in effect paused” due to Tehran’s lack of response.
While US President Donald Trump had long confirmed that a team of Vance and his special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would be visiting Islamabad, Iran had not committed to participating in the fresh round.
News agency AFP also reported that JD Vance is still in Washington and quoted a White House official as saying that additional policy meetings were taking place. The Republican was scheduled to depart for Islamabad on Tuesday morning (local time) but is not running on schedule.
Are the Pak talks happening?
With a shaky ceasefire set to expire soon, talks scheduled in Islamabad between American and Iranian delegations are more vital now than ever before. However, uncertainty looms over the future of these negotiations as Iran has so far remained noncommittal on its participation.
Threats from both sides have continued despite the clock ticking on the ceasefire. Donald Trump on Tuesday said that “I expect to be bombing” and Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf saying Tehran has “new cards on the battlefield” that haven’t yet been revealed.
While NYT reports that Vance’s Islamabad is on hold, it also said that the trip could be back “at a moment’s notice” if Iran issues a response that is deemed acceptable by Trump.
When does the ceasefire end?
Apart from talks, confusion has also shrouded on when the two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran, that was announced on April 7, will end. According to an AFP report, Iranian state media has said that the truce would expire at 3:30 am Wednesday, Tehran time (0000 GMT Tuesday).
However, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that the ceasefire would end on 4:50 am PST, April 22. However, Trump had recently said iin his remarks to Bloomberg that the ceasefire would end Wednesday evening Washington time.
He had also said that was “highly unlikely” he would agree to extend the truce.
