US-Iran Talks in Islamabad: Who is coming, what is at stake, and why Pakistan? Explained

 The meeting follows a Pakistan-brokered two-week ceasefire that both Washington and Tehran agreed to, but which is already showing cracks, with both sides reading its terms rather differently.

Six weeks after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, senior American and Iranian officials will sit down this Saturday in Pakistan's capital for negotiations aimed at ending a war that has already killed thousands, shut the world's busiest oil corridor, and kept global energy markets on edge since fighting broke out on 28th February. The meeting follows a Pakistan-brokered two-week ceasefire that both Washington and Tehran agreed to, but which is already showing cracks, with both sides reading its terms rather differently.

Six weeks on from the US-Israeli strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the world will be watching a hotel in Islamabad.

Here is everything you need to know.

When and where?

Formal talks are set to begin on Saturday morning, local time, at the Serena Hotel, a stone's throw from Pakistan's foreign ministry in the capital's heavily guarded Red Zone, which houses key government buildings and embassies. The hotel has been cleared of guests since Wednesday evening and is expected to remain requisitioned through Sunday.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council has said the talks could run for up to 15 days, leaving open the possibility that delegations may linger beyond the weekend or return for subsequent rounds.

Pakistani authorities have declared 9th and 10th April public holidays in the federal capital, with only essential services, police, hospitals, and utilities exempted. The Red Zone has been sealed, and entry points into the city have been shut down. A 30-member US security team has already arrived.

Who is coming?

The Americans are sending a heavyweight delegation. US Vice President JD Vance will lead the team, accompanied by President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Iran is expected to be represented by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Whether anyone from the IRGC itself, which is directing Tehran's military operations, will be present remains unclear.

Iran's ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, briefly announced on X that the delegation was arriving for "serious talks based on the 10 points proposed by Iran," noting the Iranian public's deep scepticism given repeated ceasefire violations by Israel. He deleted the post within hours.

Pakistani officials have been careful to note that nothing is confirmed until delegations physically land.

How will the talks actually work?

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who formally invited both sides to Islamabad, is expected to hold separate preliminary meetings with each delegation on Friday or early Saturday. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who has been shuttling between capitals throughout the conflict, will then facilitate the actual negotiations.

In a sign of how far apart the two sides remain, the US and Iranian teams are expected to sit in separate rooms, with Pakistani officials ferrying messages between them. Direct face-to-face talks are not yet on the table.

Vance's presence is being read as significant by the Iranians. Tehran has grown openly frustrated with Witkoff and Kushner, pointing to talks in Muscat and Geneva in February that were still ongoing when the US began bombing Iran. They regard Vance, widely seen as a cautious voice on prolonged American military engagement in the Middle East, and a possible contender for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, as a more credible interlocutor.

Whether Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, will participate remains unclear. Neither the foreign ministry nor the military's media wing responded to queries.

Why Pakistan?

It is a fair question. Pakistan has had its share of turbulent history with both Washington and Tehran, yet finds itself, somewhat unexpectedly, as the go-between in one of the most consequential diplomatic efforts in years.

The geography helps. Pakistan shares a 909-kilometre border with Iran and is home to the world's second-largest Shia Muslim population after its neighbour, both factors that give Islamabad genuine standing in Tehran's eyes. Crucially, Pakistan hosts no American military bases, which matters enormously to the Iranians.

At the same time, Pakistan has held Major Non-NATO Ally status with the United States since 2004. Army chief Munir has been on the phone repeatedly with both American and Iranian officials in recent weeks. Islamabad, in short, is one of the very few capitals that both sides are still willing to walk into.

The diplomatic symbolism of Vance's visit alone is notable. The last US vice president to set foot in Pakistan was Joe Biden, in January 2011, fourteen years ago. The last sitting US president was George W Bush, in March 2006. Vance's arrival to negotiate an end to a war, rather than for routine bilateral business, underscores just how unusual this moment is. It is also rare for a vice president to visit a country where the US does not currently have a confirmed ambassador; the post in Islamabad has sat vacant since early 2025.

What is actually on the table?

The two sides enter the room carrying very different shopping lists.

Iran's 10-point peace proposal includes Iranian oversight of the Strait of Hormuz, the withdrawal of all US combat forces from the Middle East, and a halt to military operations against Tehran's allied armed groups. Washington has not formally accepted these terms, though Trump has described the plan as "workable."

The White House has, in turn, insisted that Iran is prepared to surrender its stockpile of enriched uranium, a position spokesperson Karoline Leavitt called non-negotiable. Iran has not publicly agreed to any such thing.

Lebanon is a separate flashpoint threatening to unravel the ceasefire before talks have even properly begun. Israel's bombing of Lebanon on Wednesday, its most intense assault since the war started, killed more than 200 people. Araghchi warned that Tehran could walk away from the ceasefire entirely if the strikes continue, arguing that the US must choose between peace and continuing to back Israel's campaign. Pakistan's prime minister had asserted that the ceasefire covered the broader region, Lebanon included.

Vance, speaking from Budapest, flatly disagreed, saying the ceasefire terms did not extend to Lebanon. Trump and the White House have backed that position.

What can realistically be expected?

Not a peace deal, not yet. Analysts who have watched this conflict from the start say the level of mistrust on both sides makes a final settlement deeply unlikely in the near term. The deleted post from Iran's ambassador in Islamabad captured the mood rather well --- Tehran, he wrote before taking it down, views Israel's continued strikes as a deliberate effort to blow up any chance of a diplomatic resolution.

What Islamabad might produce, if things go well, is a framework, an agreement to keep talking, perhaps an extension of the ceasefire, and at best a clearer set of terms that both sides can live with for a few more weeks. In a war this volatile, that alone would count as progress.