Vance in Almost Daily Contact With Asim Munir as US Seeks Iran Ceasefire and Nuclear Deal
JD Vance is leading renewed diplomacy with Iran, with Pakistan and Qatar playing central roles, Axios reported. A technical meeting between US and Iranian officials remains under discussion.
US Vice President JD Vance has been speaking almost daily with Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, as Washington seeks a fresh ceasefire and a potential nuclear agreement with Iran, Axios reported.
Vance has personally directed the private diplomatic effort for the past two weeks. Pakistan and Qatar are central to attempts to bring the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table, according to the report.
Alongside his conversations with Munir, Vance has maintained regular contact with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani. Their discussions have considered a working-level technical meeting between American and Iranian officials in the coming days, but that meeting has not yet taken place.
Pakistan has also been involved in previous efforts to broker talks between Washington and Tehran. Vance headed the American negotiating team at an April summit on Iran in Islamabad and personally participated in negotiations that yielded a US-Iran memorandum of understanding in June.
He later led the US delegation in another round of direct talks with Iran in Switzerland. Those negotiations concluded with Iran agreeing to invite United Nations inspectors to its nuclear facilities. The agreement subsequently fell apart after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps restarted attacks on ships.
Vance’s leadership puts the renewed initiative at the senior levels of the Trump administration. White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, a presidential adviser and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, are also involved in the negotiations.
Two weeks ago, Vance wrote to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, proposing renewed direct negotiations. Iranian officials reportedly welcomed the letter as a step that could help reopen diplomatic engagement.
Trump has permitted the diplomatic effort to proceed and told reporters on Friday that Washington was engaged in talks.
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