Vance to lead Iran peace talks in Pakistan: ‘The president’s right-hand man’

Ahead of the talks in Islamabad, Leavitt said Vance has played a “very significant and a key role” in negotiations with Iran.

“Of course, he’s the president’s right-hand man,” Leavitt said. “He is the vice president of the United States. He’s been involved in all of these discussions.”

Whether Vance was attending the talks himself was previously up in the air, with the president telling the New York Post earlier Wednesday that there was a “question of safety, security.”

But Leavitt said that Vance would be attending after all, and that the White House fully trusts the Secret Service to “do their job to keep the vice president and the president’s negotiating team safe.”

“They do a tremendous job, and we fully trust them to do that,” Leavitt said.

The talks will take place amid a fragile two-week ceasefire agreed to by the U.S. and Iran to finalize a deal to end the war. But uncertainty over what was agreed to and what was not has put the ceasefire into jeopardy.

A particular contention is a list of 10 points supposedly demanded by Iran to end the war. The list reportedly includes a guarantee of nonaggression, a lifting of primary and secondary sanctions, recognizing Iran’s right to enrich uranium, and giving control of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran.

Leavitt said that the plan being reported in the media was false, and that the president instead agreed to a “more reasonable and entirely different and condensed plan to the president and his team” by Iran.

However, there is also tension over Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, with Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israel’s attacks, according to Iranian state media. Iran has also told mediators in the region that its participation in talks this weekend is contingent on a ceasefire in Lebanon, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Leavitt called reports that the maritime channel had been closed “completely unacceptable,” but stated that it was an example of what is said privately during negotiations being different from public posturing.

“Privately, we have seen an uptick of traffic in the strait today, and I will reiterate the president’s expectation and demand that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened immediately, quickly, and safely,” Leavitt said. “That is his expectation. It has been relayed to him privately that that is what’s taking place, and these reports publicly are false.”

US AND IRAN AGREE TO TWO-WEEK CEASEFIRE AFTER TRUMP ACCEPTS ‘WORKABLE’ 10-POINT PLAN

Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif, who helped broker an agreement, urged in a post on X for “all parties to exercise restraint” and work toward a “peaceful settlement of the conflict.”

“Violations of ceasefire have been reported at few places across the conflict zone which undermine the spirit of peace process,” Sharif said.