White House confirms talks in Islamabad, VP Vance to lead US delegation

Addressing a press briefing, Karoline Leavitt confirmed that, along with Vance, who she called as President Donald Trump's "right-hand man", Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner will be part of the delegation.

"Vice President JD Vance has played a very significant and key role in this since the very beginning. Of course, he's the president's right-hand man. He is the vice president of the United States. He's been involved in all of these discussions. He'll be leading this new phase of negotiations in Islamabad later this week," she said.

"I can announce that the President is dispatching his negotiating team, led by the Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, Special Envoy Witkoff, and Mr Kushner, to Islamabad for talks this weekend. The first round of those talks will take place on Saturday morning, local time, and we look forward to those in-person meetings," Leavitt added.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has already confirmed Tehran's participation. The diplomatic engagement between the US and Iran is set to take place in Islamabad on Friday, April 10, where both sides will hold direct talks aimed at ending weeks of intense hostilities following the outbreak of war.

The meeting follows an immediate ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran for two weeks after weeks of conflict in the region.

According to Iranian state media reports, the Iranian delegation will be led by Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a central figure in Tehran's wartime leadership structure who has taken on strategic responsibilities since the early phase of the conflict.

This comes after Trump suspended the "bombing and attack" campaign on Iran, announcing a two-week double-sided ceasefire and saying that the 10-point proposal from Iran was workable. (ANI)