US vice president JD Vance will lead the US delegation in talks with Iran scheduled to begin on 11 April in Islamabad, Pakistan, the White House said on Wednesday.
The US and Iran on Tuesday announced a two-week ceasefire — presumably until 21 April — to allow for negotiations on an agreement to end the war permanently.
Less than 24 hours after the announcement, the ceasefire looks fragile and the parties are offering conflicting accounts of key terms of the ceasefire and of a potential peace agreement.
Attacks on energy infrastructure in Iran and in neighboring Mideast Gulf states continued in the hours after the ceasefire was announced. The Israel Defense Forces said it carried out attacks against targets in Iran overnight before adhering to the US-Iran ceasefire from Wednesday morning.
Iran on Wednesday added an additional condition to the ceasefire agreement, demanding that Israel stop its ground and aerial attacks in Lebanon. "The US must choose — ceasefire or continued war via Israel," Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said in a social post on Wednesday.
Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in a separate post accused the US of sending a drone into the Iranian airspace and also claimed that the ceasefire agreement called for a halt in hostilities in Lebanon. "In such situation, a bilateral ceasefire or negotiation is unreasonable," Ghalibaf said in a post.
But the White House countered that the US-Iran ceasefire agreed on Tuesday did not call for a halt to Israel's attacks on its northern neighbor. Araqchi did not explicitly reference Lebanon in his initial announcement of a ceasefire.
The White House downplayed tough statements from Iran, asserting that privately Tehran assured the US of its continued commitment to the ceasefire deal.
Vessel traffic through the strait of Hormuz has yet to rise since the US and Iran announced a ceasefire, as shipowners wait for clarity on security arrangements and insurance cover for transits.
The White House on Wednesday asserted that traffic through Hormuz is increasing and that it is monitoring Iran's adherence to that part of the ceasefire accord "minute by minute, hour by hour".
The US and Iran have offered conflicting understandings of the terms of navigation through Hormuz while the ceasefire is in effect. Trump on Tuesday reposted a statement from Araqchi, who asserted that Iran's armed forces will "coordinate" navigation through Hormuz.
Trump separately mulled joint US-Iranian control of traffic through the strait. But by Wednesday afternoon, the White House insisted that Trump views the ceasefire as requiring Tehran to ensure "free, safe and immediate reopening of the strait of Hormuz".
The US has not "definitively accepted" Iran's demand for tolls on ships passing through Hormuz, the White House said. Trump has mulled a "joint venture" for the US and Iran that would control Hormuz, but in the near term, Trump wants to see Hormuz reopened unconditionally, the White House said.
Terms of peace
Trump's Tuesday announcement of a ceasefire with Iran referred to a 10-point peace proposal he deemed "workable", without specifying what those points were.
Tehran then posted a list of 10 points it said would be part of an eventual agreement, including provisions securing Iran's control of Hormuz, full sanctions relief, withdrawal of US troops from the Middle East and protecting Iran's right to enrich uranium.
Trump has pushed back on reports that the 10 points as described by Tehran are the same points he said he viewed as workable.
The White House asserted that Iran on Tuesday "put forward a more reasonable and entirely different and condensed plan to the President and his team", which would serve as a basis for talks — without disclosing what those terms were. The 10-point proposal as described by Iran on Tuesday "was literally thrown in the garbage by President Trump", the White House said.
But in an earlier Wednesday social media post, Trump acknowledged at least one other point demanded by Iran: "We are, and will be, talking Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran," Trump said.
The Trump administration has offered multiple objectives behind its decision to launch a war against Iran. But on Wednesday, the White House listed a single "red line" to be upheld by Trump — "the end of enrichment in Iran".
