US Vice President JD Vance seems to be a gearing up for a primary role in potential negotiations with Iran on bringing the ongoing war to an end. He has spoken to intermediaries from Pakistan about the conflict, news agency Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The news report also said that Vance has delivered a “stern” message that US President Donald Trump's was “impatient” and signaled privately that the President was open to a ceasefire as long as certain US demands were met.
The report suggests that Vance, who is being widely seen as a possible successor to Donald Trump, is getting a bigger role in negotiating a truce between the US and Iran.
Pakistan recently drew focus in the backdrop of the negotiations after prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the country was ready to host a dialogue and several reports also suggested that Islamabad could be the venue for talks.
Vance preferred by Iran for talks?
Apart from Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are also reportedly involved.
While Iran has not officially acknowledged any direct talks with the US, a report recently said that the country would prefer engaging in negotiations with JD Vance, and not Witkoff or Kushner.
{{/usCountry}}While Iran has not officially acknowledged any direct talks with the US, a report recently said that the country would prefer engaging in negotiations with JD Vance, and not Witkoff or Kushner.
{{/usCountry}}Iranian representatives communicated to Washington that talks with the other US officials would be unlikely to succeed because of a deep deficit of trust following the collapse of earlier negotiations before the outbreak of hostilities, CNN had reported citing regional sources familiar with the issue.
Trump's speech sparks war escalation fears
Despite reiterating that the war could end within two to three weeks and claiming that military objectives would be achieved “shortly,” Donald Trump’s latest threats toward Iran have heightened concerns of further escalation in the ongoing conflict.
In a prime time address to the nation on Thursday, the President said: “We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We are going to bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong. In the meantime, discussions are ongoing.”
The fresh remarks triggered a big spike in oil prices shortly after, with Brent climbing above $106 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate toward $105, as reported by Bloomberg.