US and Iran Begin Direct Talks in Pakistan Amid Fragile Ceasefire

The United States and Iran have taken the rare step of sitting down for direct talks in Pakistan, signaling a potential shift in a conflict that has already lasted six weeks and caused widespread devastation. The discussions began Saturday afternoon in Islamabad, following separate meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is mediating the talks.

The US delegation is led by Vice President JD Vance and includes President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, while Iran’s large team is headed by parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Pakistani officials expressed hope that these negotiations could serve as a “stepping stone toward durable peace in the region.”

The talks come on the heels of a fragile ceasefire announced by Trump’s administration, which halted US and Israeli air strikes on Iran but left critical issues unresolved. Iran’s insistence that the ceasefire include the conflict in Lebanon—where Israeli strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah have killed nearly 2,000 people—remains a major sticking point. Washington and Israel reject including Lebanon in the ceasefire, while Tehran and Pakistan maintain it is essential.

Iranian officials say progress has been made on basic conditions, including discussions about a possible ceasefire in Lebanon and the unfreezing of Iranian assets, though no concrete agreements have yet been reached. Ghalibaf acknowledged past failures in negotiations with the US but indicated Iran’s readiness to make a deal if genuine commitments are offered.

Meanwhile, Trump framed the talks as leverage, tweeting that Iranian officials are “alive today” only because they are negotiating and warning that the US team will not tolerate any attempts at “playing” them.

Despite the ceasefire, Iran continues to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy route, causing unprecedented disruptions to oil supplies. The ongoing blockade and the unresolved Lebanon conflict highlight how fragile and incomplete the current truce remains.

These talks in Pakistan are a rare moment of direct engagement between the two adversaries, but deep mistrust and conflicting demands mean the road ahead is uncertain. For now, the world watches to see if diplomacy can break through the cycle of violence and brinkmanship that has defined US-Iran relations under the Trump administration.