Trump Dispatches JD Vance and Jared Kushner to Islamabad for High-Stakes Iran Peace Talks Amid Strait of Hormuz Crisis

3 min readUpdated: Apr 9, 2026 01:44 AM IST

US President Donald Trump is sending a delegation to Pakistan to hold talks on a lasting peace agreement with Iran which will be led by Vice President JD Vance, the White House told reporters, adding that the first round of negotiations would take place on Saturday.

Trump will also be dispatching his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to Islamabad to take part in the negotiations. From the Iranian side, since several of its political leaders were killed in the war, Iran’s delegation is expected to be led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Reuters reported.

.@PressSec: “@VP has played very significant and a key role in this since the very beginning. Of course, he’s @POTUS‘ right hand man…he’s been involved in all of these discussions and, as I just announced, he’ll be leading this new phase of negotiations in Islamabad.” pic.twitter.com/vRd76kXv6E

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 8, 2026

During a White House press briefing on Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “I can announce that the president is dispatching his negotiating team led by the Vice President of United States, JD, Vance, special envoy Witkoff and Kushner to Islamabad for talks this weekend.”

When asked by reporters about Vance’s role in ceasefire between US and Iran, Leavitt said the vice president’s role has been “very significant,” adding that he has been involved in all discussions.

The White House press secretary further said the negotiators will work to merge US and Iran’s framework over ceasefire proposal into an agreement during talks in Islamabad on Saturday. “The president’s red lines, namely, the end of uranium enrichment in Iran have not changed,” Leavitt said.

The confirmation of talks came hours after a ceasefire deal was signed between US-Israel and Iran to halt the hostilities in West Asia which began on February 28.

However, Iran has reportedly said that it has closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for global oil and gas, after Israel launched its heaviest strikes yet on Lebanon which killed 112 people on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said the ceasefire deal didn’t include Iran-backed militia group Hezbollah, which is stationed in Lebanon and Tel Aviv said it would “continue to strike them.”

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