JD Vance warns Iran not to ‘play’ the US as he departs for negotiations aimed at ending their war

Vance, who has long been skeptical of foreign military interventions and outspoken about the prospect of sending troops into open-ended conflicts, left Friday to lead mediated talks with Iran in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

As he boarded Air Force Two en route to Pakistan, the vice president said, “We’re looking forward to the negotiations. I think it will be positive. We’ll see, of course.”

He quoted Trump as saying, “If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we are certainly willing to extend an open hand.” But he added: “If they start playing us, they will find that the negotiating team is not as receptive.”

Vance also said Trump “gave us some pretty clear guidance” on how the talks should proceed, but he did not elaborate. He did not answer questions from reporters traveling with him.

Vance’s trip comes as a tenuous, temporary ceasefire seems on the verge of collapse.

The gap between Iran’s public demands and those of the US and its partner Israel appears irreconcilable. And in the US, where Vance could ask voters in two years to appoint him the next president, political and economic pressure is growing to get it done.

Vance is joined by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who took part in three rounds of indirect talks with Iranian negotiators aimed at addressing US concerns about Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic weapons programs and its support for armed proxy groups in the Middle East before Trump and Israel launched the war against Iran on February 28.

The White House has provided few details about the form of the talks — whether they will be direct or indirect — and has not expressed specific expectations for the meeting.

But Vance’s arrival for negotiations marks a rare moment of high-level U.S. government engagement with the Iranian government.

Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the most direct contact was when President Barack Obama called newly elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in September 2013 to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.

The two sides face a steep climb to make progress

Almost immediately after the White House and Iran announced a temporary ceasefire on Tuesday evening, the sides disagreed over the terms of the truce.

Iran emphasized that an end to Israel’s war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump said the ceasefire did not apply to Lebanon, and that Israeli operations there continued.

The US, meanwhile, demanded that Iran make amends for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Republic had closed the critical shipping route in response to Israel’s increasing attacks on the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Trump said Thursday that Iran is “doing a very poor job” in allowing oil tankers through, writing on social media: “That’s not the deal we have!”

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Vance, Witkoff, Kushner and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “have always worked together on these discussions” and said Trump was optimistic that a lasting deal can be reached during the two-week ceasefire.

“President Trump has a proven track record of getting good deals on behalf of the United States and the American people, and he will only accept one that puts America first,” Kelly said.

There is a lot at stake for peace – and for politics

It’s the highest-stakes moment yet for Vance, who has spent much of the past year as a background player in Trump’s White House, especially as others like Elon Musk and Rubio have taken turns as the president’s ever-present advisers.

But Vance’s portfolio is quickly thickening, first with a mission to root out fraud in government programs at home and now to help solve an American war in the Middle East, where complicated things can’t even begin to describe.

Vance, who served in the Iraq War while in the Marines and spent two years as a U.S. senator for Ohio and just over one year as vice president, has little diplomatic experience.

On Wednesday, he dismissed speculation that the Iranians had asked him to join the talks, telling reporters: “I don’t know. I would be surprised if that were true. But you know, I wanted to be involved because I thought I could make a difference.”

Jonathan Schanzer, a former Treasury Department official and now executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank, said Vance, with little experience in Iran policy, is an interesting choice to lead the delegation.

Trump has noted that his vice president has been “less enthusiastic” than other senior officials in the Republican administration, making Vance an intriguing interlocutor for the Iranian side, Schanzer said.

“I think they probably prefer him knowing that his perspective on foreign intervention is one of skepticism,” Schanzer said of the Iranians.

‘I really think he’s going to need some help. I don’t think he’s ever been involved in negotiations with this kind of weight, this kind of seriousness. This is as serious as it gets.”

The White House has pushed back against the characterization that Iran wanted Vance at the talks, calling it an attempt to damage the negotiations.

The White House did not detail who will be at the talks besides Vance, Witkoff and Kushner, but Kelly said officials from the National Security Council, State Department and Pentagon “will also play a supporting role.”

During the first rounds of indirect nuclear talks with the Iranians before the war, Democrats and some nuclear experts questioned whether Kushner and Witkoff had sufficient technical knowledge.

The White House has not said whether the pair, to whom Trump has entrusted some of his toughest negotiations since returning to office, had a nuclear expert with them for those talks.

Negotiating peace is a tall order for any vice president

It’s not unusual for vice presidents to take on key negotiating roles for the president, says Joel Goldstein, a law professor at Saint Louis University and an expert on the history of the vice presidency.

But, he said, “I cannot recall a situation in which a vice president has been sent to negotiate a ceasefire or peace in connection with a war involving the United States.”

Vance and Rubio are seen as the Republican Party’s strongest potential candidates for president in 2028, although neither has given a clear answer as to whether he plans to run.

The vice president’s team is not considering the negotiations with future political considerations in mind, according to a person familiar with discussions who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

As vice president, Vance would inherently carry all the baggage of government if he ultimately runs for president, Goldstein said. But by intervening and leading the negotiations, he is drawn even further into the conflict.

“The fact that he is involved in the negotiations in a very visible way means that if things go wrong, people will point the finger at him,” Goldstein said.

At the same time, Goldstein said, “If it goes well, then it will be something he can point to.”

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