The two delegations arrived at Islamabad’s Serena Hotel on Friday. The streets outside were sealed by shipping containers and patrolled by armed soldiers. A two-day public holiday had been declared across the Pakistani capital. And on Saturday morning, for the first time in 46 years, American and Iranian officials sat in the same room for face-to-face negotiations.
The moment is historic by any measure. Whether it produces anything durable is a different question — and the answer will not be known today.
Who Is in the Room
US Vice President JD Vance is leading the American delegation, joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Prior to his departure, Vance told reporters: “We’re looking forward to the negotiation. I think it’s going to be positive.” He also issued a warning: “If they’re going to try to play us, then they’re going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive.”
Iranian state media confirmed that parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf arrived in Islamabad on Friday, and that the Iranian delegation includes senior political, military, and economic officials — including Iran’s foreign minister, the defence council secretary, the central bank governor, and several members of parliament.
Tehran has not made a formal announcement about its representatives, but Tehran’s delegation is being led by Ghalibaf, a figure described as a regime insider with a reputation for suppressing dissent who has emerged as a key interlocutor with the Trump administration throughout the war. Many of Iran’s senior leaders were killed in US-Israeli strikes in recent weeks.
Vali Nasr, professor of international affairs and Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University, said Iran wanted the level of access that Vance provides — access above Witkoff and Kushner — to ensure it is getting its message directly to Trump. “I think the level of participation in these talks is the highest that the Trump administration and Iran have had before,” he told CBC’s Front Burner podcast.
What Pakistan Is Actually Hoping For
Experts and sources close to the mediation effort said there was little expectation that a major breakthrough would be reached on Saturday. But by setting a more realistic ceiling — an agreement in Islamabad to continue deeper negotiations aimed at finding a lasting peace deal — Pakistan is hopeful it can help build on a truce that led to a collective sigh of relief globally.
“Pakistan has succeeded in getting them together. We got them to sit at a table. Now it is for the parties to decide whether they are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to reach an eventual solution,” Zamir Akram, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United Nations, told Al Jazeera.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Sharif called the talks a “make-or-break moment” in a national address on Friday, expressing hope that US and Iranian negotiators would meet Saturday.
The talks will be both direct and indirect, according to US and regional sources — reflecting the fact that Iran has not formally acknowledged holding negotiations with the United States, and insists on framing its participation as a response to Pakistan’s mediation rather than as direct negotiation with Washington.
What Iran Is Demanding Before Talks Can Proceed
Iran’s parliament speaker Ghalibaf said the day before the talks that negotiations with the US cannot begin without a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets abroad. “Criticism of Israel has poured in from across the globe, including from European and Gulf powers fearful that the ceasefire could unravel before talks even begin,” CNN reported.
Vance said there had been a “legitimate misunderstanding” regarding Lebanon’s inclusion in the ceasefire. He also said Israelis may “check themselves a little bit” with their ongoing strikes — the clearest signal yet of US pressure on Israel to hold back in Lebanon during the negotiation window.
The Core Issues on the Table
The agenda for today’s session covers territory that has resisted diplomatic resolution for four decades. The US position, as expressed in its 15-point proposal, centres on Iran committing to no nuclear weapons, handing over its highly enriched uranium, limiting its defence capabilities, ending support for regional proxy groups, and reopening the Strait of Hormuz permanently.
Iran’s 10-point counter-proposal demands recognition of its right to enrich uranium, withdrawal of US forces from the region, lifting of all sanctions, full war reparations, and Iranian oversight of the Strait.
Trump told NBC he was “very optimistic” about a peace deal out of the weekend’s talks in Islamabad, saying Iran’s leaders seemed open to peace in private discussions. “They’re much more reasonable,” he said. “They’re agreeing to all the things that they have to agree to.”
Trump’s Truth Social post before the talks captured his posture less diplomatically: “The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!” Iran’s public messaging remained markedly different, with multiple state media outlets claiming the country had won a resounding victory by surviving the US-Israeli onslaught and bringing Washington to the negotiating table.
What the Deadline Means
The negotiations have a strict deadline as the temporary ceasefire expires on April 22. That gives Islamabad and any follow-on talks less than two weeks to produce something durable enough to prevent a return to open conflict.
If today’s session produces even a minimal framework — an extension of the ceasefire, agreed-upon principles for further talks, or a roadmap for the nuclear question — it would represent a significant achievement. If it ends without agreement, the ceasefire that has been holding by a thread may not survive the week.
