US team heads to Iran talks in Pakistan with low expectations

A U.S. team led by Vice President JD Vance left for Islamabad on Friday for weekend talks with Iran, even as both sides accused each other of breaking commitments made to secure a temporary ceasefire.



White House officials said they were skeptical that the talks could immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran's lead negotiators threw the talks into doubt by saying they could not even begin without commitments on Lebanon and sanctions.



Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that the ceasefire had to include Israel's assault on Hezbollah in Lebanon and that Iranian assets blocked by sanctions must be released.



It was unclear whether those demands would scupper the Saturday talks, which would be the highest-level meeting between the U.S. and Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that began nearly a half-century of adversarial relations.