U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, and Iran’s Foreign Minister were involved in overnight ceasefire talks that would see a two-stage agreement announced as soon as today, a report claims.
Washington and Tehran are considering an agreement to be signed today that would begin an immediate ceasefire ahead of in-person talks for a later comprehensive agreement, Reuters reports. While Reuters cited only a single unnamed “source,” since the publication of its report, the Iranian Foreign Ministry has said it indeed received the text of a proposed ceasefire negotiated through the mediator, the Pakistani Army, lending credence to the wire service’s claims.
According to the report, U.S. Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump’s ubiquitous peace envoy Steve Witkoff were in overnight talks held by the head of the Pakistani Army Field Marshal Asim Munir, with the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi, one of the few surviving members of the Iranian pre-war government, after weeks of “decapitation” strikes. It is stated that the agreement is intended to proceed in two stages: an immediate ceasefire, should the parties agree, followed by talks on a “comprehensive” peace agreement in the Middle East.
This would come in two to three weeks and involve in-person negotiations in Pakistan, it was said, and would see Iran acknowledge its nuclear ambitions are over for good in return for relief from the sanctions regime. These remarks followed others over the weekend by Aragchi, who claimed the country’s position on talks was being “misrepresented by U.S. media” and that Iran was perfectly willing to talk. Nevertheless, this claim came after weeks in which Iran denied that talks were happening at all.
While Iran has now acknowledged talks are happening, they have denied — in their usual fashion — that anything may be possible, likely as much messaging intended for their own people as an international audience. The Times of Israel reports Tehran has complained of not liking being blackmailed or pressured into a decision — a clear reference to President Trump’s establishment of a deadline to choose — and that their Foreign Affairs spokesman said this morning that they have “formulated our own responses” to ceasefire proposals received.
They are reported to have said: “Iran does not hesitate to clearly express what it considers its legitimate demands and doing so should not be interpreted as a sign of compromise, but rather as a reflection of its confidence in defending its positions”. Further, it was stated earlier this morning that Tehran insisted they wouldn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz for a temporary ceasefire, perhaps the single most important concession they must make to end the war.
Over the weekend, President Trump made it crystal clear that consequences would follow if a ceasefire were not reached quickly this week, with an apparent deadline of Tuesday night Eastern Time for the United States Air Force to be let off the metaphorical leash. President Trump had noted that until now, American strikes had avoided hitting the infrastructure that makes a continuing human civilisation in the Iran region possible, including power stations and the oil plants that drive its economy, and that after the talks deadline passes, that constraint would lapse.
Underlining the importance of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway through which much of the earth’s oil trade flows, President Trump said of the importance of Iran accepting terms: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards”.
These remarks were followed by others by President Trump, who spoke to Fox News on Sunday and intimated that talks were going well. President Trump said that the Iranians on the negotiating team “have been granted amnesty at this time so they can continue talks” — which may go some way toward explaining why Foreign Minister Aragchi has survived much longer than his Iranian government colleagues.
In encouraging remarks about the chances for a deal, President Trump said, “I think there is a good chance tomorrow, they are negotiating now”. He did restate his warning, however, and told the broadcaster: “If they don’t make a deal and fast, I’m considering blowing everything up and taking over the oil… you’re going to see bridges and power plants dropping all over their country”.
Last month it was stated Israel had to be talked out of assassinating Aragchi to leave the U.S. and Pakistan with anyone in the Iranian government to actually negotiate with. Evidently, such protection from strikes remains relevant, and Breitbart News reported today that the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence organisation in Iran, Majid Khademi, was killed in another targeted Israeli strike.
