Vice President JD Vance is heading to Islamabad for last-ditch negotiations with Iran before a ceasefire expires Tuesday, U.S. officials confirmed. Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will join the delegation, arriving Monday evening to attempt what amounts to an eleventh-hour gambit to either strike a deal or at minimum extend the truce.
The talks come as Iran attacked commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday and announced it was closing the waterway again, directly contradicting Trump's assertion just days earlier that a peace agreement was imminent. The move followed Trump's refusal to lift the blockade and Iran's accusation that Washington had introduced new "maximalist" demands.
Trump convened an unusual Saturday Situation Room meeting in response. Though a U.S. official said the president still wanted to explore a deal when the meeting concluded, his public posture hardened considerably.
On Truth Social Sunday morning, Trump declared Iran had violated the ceasefire by attacking ships and vowed devastating consequences if negotiations fail. "We're offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don't, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran," he wrote, adding "NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!"
He went further, threatening to dismantle Iran's infrastructure with military strikes he claimed previous administrations should have executed decades ago. "IT'S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!" Trump posted.
Iran has not yet confirmed it will participate in the Islamabad talks, leaving the entire diplomatic effort in question. The situation demonstrates how quickly the narrative around the conflict has shifted. After days of declaring the war effectively over, Trump now faces the real possibility of escalating to military strikes if the negotiations collapse when the ceasefire window closes.
The delegation's arrival Monday sets up a compressed timeline for what could be one of the most consequential diplomatic encounters of Trump's second term. Success would require either reaching a comprehensive settlement or securing an extension, but with Iran's recent actions and Trump's public threats now in the record, both sides have limited room to retreat.
Author James Rodriguez: "Trump went from victory lap to thermonuclear rhetoric in 72 hours, and now he's betting Vance can pull off what looked impossible just Saturday."
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