Iran sets conditions as Vance warns Tehran not to ‘play’ US at Pak talks

Iran demanded a truce in Lebanon and the release of its blocked assets on Friday as US Vice President JD Vance warned Tehran not to “play” Washington, casting doubt on planned ceasefire talks in Pakistan.

Despite the temporary truce struck between the foes, deep disagreements remain as to the way forward in negotiations aimed at transforming the fragile ceasefire into a lasting peace deal.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has felicitated Pakistan on achieving the US-Iran ceasefire, as well as ensuring the resumption of dialogue, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.

Speaking to his British counterpart over the phone, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif reaffirmed Pakistan’s “sincere commitment to regional peace and stability,” and welcomed a joint statement from world leaders endorsing the peace plan.

“If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand,” Vance told reporters before taking off for Pakistani capital Islamabad from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. But “if they’re going to try to play us, then they’re going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive,” he said.

He cited President Donald Trump in saying, “If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand.” But he added, “If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”

Vance also said that Trump “gave us some pretty clear guidelines” on how talks should go, but he didn’t elaborate. He did not take questions from reporters traveling with him.

Iran’s parliament speaker shortly thereafter put forward two measures he said “must be fulfilled before negotiations begin:” a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets. Both had been “mutually agreed upon between the parties” but had “yet to be implemented,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X.

Official sources say the talks in Islamabad will cover several sensitive points, including Iran’s nuclear enrichment and the free flow of trade through the Strait of Hormuz.

‘NO CARDS:’ Trump posted on his Truth Social network on Friday that Iran has “no cards” in the talks “other than a short-term extortion of the World by using International Waterways.”

Trump, in an interview with The New York Post, says that US warships are being reloaded with weaponry to strike Iran if talks in Pakistan fail to produce a deal, according to Reuters.

“We have a reset going. We’re loading up the ships with the best ammunition, the best weapons ever made — even better than what we did previously and we blew them apart,” The NY Post quotes Trump as saying. “And if we don’t have a deal, we will be using them, and we will be using them very effectively.”

While Pakistan had said the discussions would start on Friday, Vance is not expected to arrive until Saturday.

In Islamabad all routes leading to the Serena Hotel, the expected venue for the talks, were blocked off with heavy security, while a large banner and digital signs along the expressway heralded the “Islamabad Talks.”

Pope Leo XIV amplified his condemnation of the US-Israeli war with Iran on Friday, saying that “God does not bless any conflict” and certainly doesn’t side with those who drop bombs.

One 30-year-old resident of Tehran told AFP he was sceptical negotiations would be successful, describing most of what Trump says as “pure noise and nonsense.”

“He wants to manipulate the Islamic republic into getting a deal. I think that was his intention, if you can say there is an intention.”

“I am scared of the war starting again, and at the same time I’m scared of the regime staying”, Tehran resident Sheida told AFP, withholding her last name out of concern for her safety.

‘GOOD FAITH:’ Spain’s foreign minister said on Friday that he had spoken with his Iranian counterpart and urged him to negotiate in good faith during talks with US in Islamabad.

“I encourage Iran — this is what I conveyed to the Iranian foreign minister — to take part in those negotiations and to participate in good faith,” Jose Manuel Albares told the press, adding that he had spoken with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, “the day before yesterday” and had also asked him to halt “all missile and drone launches.”