ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – APRIL 11: US Vice President J.D. Vance (centre) walks with Pakistan’s Chief of Defense Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir (left), Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar and others after arriving for talks with Iranian officials in Islamabad, Pakistan on April 11, 2026. (Photo by Jacqueline Martin – Pool/Getty Images)
Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The United States and Iran began peace talks with Pakistani government officials on Saturday, as the war enters its seventh week.
The talks took place as two US warships passed through the Strait of Hormuz for the first time since the conflict began. U.S. Central Command said the warship was participating in a mission to clear mines in the waterway planted by Iran.
Trilateral negotiations aim to cement a two-week ceasefire that began on Tuesday, but it is under strain as Iran continues to block most shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important chokepoint for oil and gas supplies. Tehran also reiterated a list of preconditions for talks.
Two rounds of talks were held between the negotiating teams in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, with a third round scheduled for later Saturday, The New York Times reported. The White House confirmed to MS NOW that negotiations are underway.
“The negotiations are going well so far. The US is listening to us,” the Iranian representative in Islamabad told MS NOW.
US Vice President J.D. Vance’s team arrived in Islamabad early Saturday morning and was greeted by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Pakistan’s official X account released a silent video showing US Vice President J.D. Vance shaking hands with Pakistani Prime Minister Mohammad Shehbaz Sharif. American reporters traveling with Vance were not allowed to cover the event, as media access was prohibited.
“We commended the efforts of both delegations to work constructively, and the Prime Minister expressed hope that these talks will be a stepping stone towards lasting peace in the region,” the Pakistani government said in a statement. “The Prime Minister reiterated that Pakistan looks forward to continuing to promote both countries towards sustainable peace in the region.”
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that an Iranian delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in the capital Islamabad late Friday.
In a post on X, the Pakistani government shared that Sharif met with an Iranian delegation “led by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Chairman of the Iranian Consultative Assembly” and supported by Abbas Araghchi, Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In a post on X, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister “expressed the expectation of constructive engagement between the parties and reiterated Pakistan’s desire to continue to facilitate the parties towards achieving a durable and lasting solution to the conflict.”
The talks came amid heightened tensions over conflicting reports on the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. Central Command said Saturday that its forces have begun setting conditions for clearing mines in the strait as two U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers conduct the operation. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a post on
“Today, we began the process of establishing a new sea route and will soon share this safe route with the maritime industry to facilitate free commerce,” CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in a statement.
However, Iranian state media earlier reported that Iran had forced a US warship that tried to cross the strait to turn back. MS Now subsequently reported that the commercial maritime traffic system that showed the USS Michael Murphy crossing the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf was unreliable.
Separately, a senior Iranian government official told Reuters that the US had agreed to unfreeze assets held in Qatar and other foreign banks, but US officials quickly denied the report.
Iran prerequisites
However, the outcome of the ceasefire and talks remains questionable.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday that the Iranian government had presented four “non-negotiable conditions” to the mediator in Islamabad.
These include “relinquishment of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, full war reparations from the aggressor, unconditional release of blockaded assets, and a permanent ceasefire across the entire West Asian region,” Tasnim said on its X account.
Ghalibaf warned on Friday that planned negotiations to end the war with the United States cannot begin unless Israel ceases its attack on Lebanon and the United States releases Tehran’s frozen assets.
After the American delegation led by Vance left for Islamabad to attend talks, Ghalibaf issued an ultimatum.
“Two of the mutually agreed upon measures between the parties have not yet been implemented: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of blocked Iranian assets before negotiations begin,” Ghalibaf told XPost.
“These two issues must be met before negotiations can begin,” he wrote.
Tanker leaves the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz
Three supertankers passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, shipping data showed, appearing to be the first ships to leave the Gulf since the cease-fire agreement between the United States and Iran.
Since the start of the Iran war in late February, Tehran’s blockade of the strait, a choke point for about 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, has disrupted global energy supplies and sent oil prices soaring.
The Liberian-flagged Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Serifos and the Chinese-flagged VLCCs Cospar Lake and He Long Hai entered and departed from the Hormuz Route Trial Anchorage, bypassing Iran’s Larak Island, on Saturday, LSEG data revealed.
Each ship can transport 2 million barrels of oil.
The Serifos, carrying crude oil loaded from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in early March, is scheduled to arrive at Malaysia’s Malacca port on April 21, according to data from LSEG and analysis firm Kpler.
The same data showed that Lake Kospar is rich in Iraqi oil, and the Herong Sea transports Saudi crude.
According to the data, both VLCCs are chartered by Unipec, the trading arm of Chinese energy giant Sinopec.
President Trump’s dissatisfaction with Iran
President Trump expressed frustration that Iran continues to block most shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
In an announcement Tuesday night, President Trump said the United States would agree to a two-week cease-fire conditional on Iran agreeing to fully and immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
But since then, shipping traffic through the strait has remained almost as severely restricted as it has been since the war began on February 28.
In a post on Truth Social Thursday night, President Trump raged: “There are reports that Iran is charging tankers to transit the Strait of Hormuz. It better not be like that, and if it is, it needs to stop now!”
Iran “is doing a disgraceful, some would say, very poor job of allowing oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz,” the president wrote in a follow-up post. “That’s not our agreement!”
Israel and Lebanon to enter into direct negotiations
Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are scheduled to begin in Washington on Tuesday, the office of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun announced on Friday, following Israel’s surprise announcement approving the talks despite the lack of official relations between the two countries.
But thousands of people in Lebanon protested the planned talks, and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he had postponed a planned visit to Washington “in view of the current domestic situation.” It was not immediately clear what that meant for the talks.
Israel wants the Lebanese government to take responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, similar to what was envisaged in the November 2024 ceasefire. But it is unclear whether the Lebanese army will be able to confiscate weapons from extremist groups whose influence it has been trying to curb for decades.
Israel insists that Iran’s ceasefire does not include a cessation of fighting with Hezbollah, threatening to sink the deal. The extremist group joined the war in support of Iran at the beginning of the war. Israel pursued with air strikes and ground invasions.
On the day Iran’s cease-fire deal was announced, Israeli airstrikes on Beirut killed more than 300 people in Lebanon, the worst day since the start of the war, according to Iran’s Health Ministry.
Pope Leo detonates the ‘illusion of omnipotence’ that fuels war
In his most powerful words yet, Pope Leo
Leo presided over an evening prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica on the same day that the United States and Iran began face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan and a fragile ceasefire was reached.
The first American-born pope did not mention the United States or President Trump during a prayer scheduled before the announcement of the meeting. But Leo’s tone and message seemed directed at President Trump and U.S. officials, who have prided themselves on America’s military superiority and justified the war on religious grounds.
“Enough of the idolatry of self and money!” said Leo. “Enough display of power! Enough of war!”
In the cathedral seat was Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu of Belgium, the archbishop of Tehran. The U.S. diplomatic corps was attended by Deputy Chief of Mission Laura Hochla, the U.S. Embassy said.
— CNBC’s Terry Cullen, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report
