U.S. Vice President JD Vance met Iranian representatives in Islamabad on Saturday as Washington and Tehran opened rare direct talks aimed at shoring up a recently announced two-week ceasefire after weeks of fighting. Pakistan is hosting and mediating the discussions, which come amid continued tensions in the region and uncertainty over the ceasefire’s scope and enforcement.
Talks began Saturday, April 11, in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, where Vice President JD Vance led the U.S. delegation, according to reporting by The Washington Post and other outlets.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held separate meetings with the U.S. and Iranian delegations before direct engagement between the sides, The Washington Post reported. Several reports described Pakistan’s role as central to the ceasefire diplomacy, though public details of the mediation and the precise terms of the truce remain limited.
The ceasefire itself has been widely described as a two-week pause in fighting mediated by Pakistan. However, multiple accounts also noted that key issues—particularly maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz and violence involving Israel and Hezbollah—could test whether the truce holds.
On the maritime front, the U.S. military said two U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers transited the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday in what it described as the first such transit since the war began in late February. The Associated Press and U.S. Naval Institute News reported the movement came as the United States prepared for mine-clearing operations intended to reduce risks to shipping.
Separately, at least one Iranian claim about U.S. naval movements circulated in Iranian state-linked media, but U.S. accounts emphasized that the destroyers completed the transit and that additional security steps were being prepared.
Some details circulated about the negotiating agenda—including an alleged Iranian “10-point plan,” demands tied to sanctions relief and frozen assets, and proposals affecting shipping fees—could not be independently confirmed from the available reporting reviewed for this article.
Public statements from President Donald Trump during the ceasefire period have emphasized preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon as a central U.S. objective, though the administration has not publicly released a comprehensive list of negotiating terms.
The Islamabad talks were continuing into early Sunday, the Associated Press reported, underscoring both the stakes and the complexity of converting a temporary ceasefire into a broader settlement.
