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April 11, 2026, 1:36 p.m. ET19 minutes ago
Iran War Live Updates: U.S. and Iran Hold Historic High-Level Peace Talks
American officials, led by Vice President JD Vance, met with senior Iranian negotiators, U.S. and Iranian officials said. It was the highest-level face-to-face meeting between the countries since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
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ImageSeveral people in dark suits and ties walk up a red-carpeted staircase. Mr. Vance is centered, framed by large brown curtains.
Vice President JD Vance arriving for a meeting with Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, in Islamabad, Pakistan, for peace talks about the Iran war on Saturday.Credit...Pool photo by Jacquelyn Martin
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April 11, 2026, 1:33 p.m. ET53 minutes ago
Tyler PagerFarnaz FassihiElian Peltier and Aaron BoxermanTyler Pager and Elian Peltier reported from Islamabad, Pakistan.
Here’s the latest.
An American delegation led by Vice President JD Vance met with senior Iranian negotiators on Saturday afternoon in Pakistan, officials from Iran and the White House said. It was a historic encounter between decades-old adversaries as they sought to broker peace after more than a month of war.
As night fell in Islamabad, few details about the status of talks had been released. But the length of the talks, which one Iranian state-affiliated media outlet said were continuing, suggested the two sides remained engaged and still had topics to discuss.
The negotiating session, mediated by Pakistan, was the highest-level face-to-face meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, which put the two countries on a collision course.
The United States and Iran agreed to a provisional cease-fire last Tuesday that suspended the fighting for at least two weeks. Iranian and American negotiators have been in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, attempting to turn the pause in fighting into a lasting peace.
The truce remains extremely brittle. Israel has kept up its ground invasion and airstrikes in Lebanon, part of a military campaign against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group, angering Tehran. Iran also maintains its grip over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical transit route for oil and gas, despite President Trump’s demand that it be free and open for shipping.
In a Friday address, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan said the talks in Islamabad were a “make or break” moment. Negotiators from the two countries have laid out red lines on Iran’s nuclear program that leave little clear path to a resolution.
Israel and the United States attacked Iran in late February, killing many of Iran’s top leaders and calling for the ouster of its government. Iran retaliated with attacks that have since drawn in much of the Middle East and battered the world economy. Iran also began blockading the Strait of Hormuz, sending global energy prices skyrocketing.
Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon against Hezbollah has threatened to derail the truce. Iran had accused Israel of breaking the cease-fire by continuing to attack in Lebanon, leading Mr. Trump to ask Israel to rein in its assault.
Israeli fighter jets have not attacked the Lebanese capital of Beirut since Wednesday. But Israel has kept up its airstrikes in southern Lebanon, including on Saturday morning, according to Lebanon’s state media.
Here’s what else we’re covering:
Negotiating team: Mr. Vance was joined in Islamabad by President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The Iranian delegation, which includes Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, arrived earlier in the Pakistani capital. Read more about them here.
Strait of Hormuz: Mr. Trump said on social media on Saturday that the United States had begun “clearing out the Strait of Hormuz,” where Iran laid mines during the course of the war. Only a handful of ships have passed through the strait since the cease-fire began last week. U.S. officials said one reason Iran had been unable to get more ships through was that it could not locate and remove all of the mines it laid in the waterway.
Israel and Lebanon: The countries’ ambassadors to the United States are expected to meet in Washington next week for direct talks, but a settlement to end the war in Lebanon is not expected imminently. More than a million people — roughly a fifth of the population — have been forced from their homes since the renewed war erupted last month between Israel and Hezbollah. Take a closer look in photos and video here.
Death tolls: The Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 1,701 civilians, including 254 children, had been killed in Iran as of Wednesday. Lebanon’s health ministry on Friday said that at least 1,953 people had been killed in the latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, including 357 in a wave of Israeli strikes on Wednesday. In attacks attributed to Iran, at least 32 people have been killed in Gulf nations. In Israel, at least 20 people had been killed as of Monday. The American death toll stands at 13 service members.
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Shirin Hakim
April 11, 2026, 1:30 p.m. ET19 minutes ago
Shirin Hakim
Iranian state media reports that two rounds of talks have taken place in Islamabad between negotiating teams and a third is scheduled for tonight. A White House official has confirmed the negotiations are continuing.
Tyler Pager
April 11, 2026, 1:25 p.m. ET24 minutes ago
Tyler PagerReporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
The trilateral in-person negotiations in Islamabad are continuing, a senior White House official says.
Michael Crowley and John Ismay
April 11, 2026, 1:22 p.m. ET27 minutes ago
Michael Crowley and John Ismay
U.S. Central Command said two U.S. warships crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday for the first time since Iran closed the waterway to shipping traffic last month. The two ships, the U.S.S. Frank E. Peterson and U.S.S. Michael Murphy, entered the Persian Gulf in advance of a mission to locate and clear any naval mines that Iran may have laid in the waters, Central Command said in a statement on Saturday. Iran denied the U.S. warships had passed through the strait, calling the claims “unrealistic,” the Iranian state broadcaster reported.
The U.S. statement said that more U.S. forces, including underwater drones, will join the operation in the coming days.
Tyler Pager
April 11, 2026, 12:35 p.m. ET1 hour ago
Tyler PagerReporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
Vice President JD Vance has been at the Serena Hotel, the site of the talks, in Islamabad for nearly nine-and-a-half hours at this point. The White House never released a schedule of how long he was expected to stay in Pakistan and has declined to comment on the status of the negotiations, but the lengthy talks suggest the two sides remained engaged and still have topics to discuss.
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Credit...Pool photo by Jacquelyn Martin
Shirin Hakim
April 11, 2026, 12:24 p.m. ET1 hour ago
Shirin Hakim
Tasnim, a news outlet affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, said negotiations have been going on for nearly four hours, and are continuing.
Tyler Pager
April 11, 2026, 12:11 p.m. ET2 hours ago
Tyler PagerReporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
The White House has not provided any additional updates on the status of the negotiations. It remains unclear how long Vice President JD Vance and the U.S. delegation plan to stay in Islamabad as it is now past 9 p.m. local time.
Pranav Baskar
April 11, 2026, 11:27 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Pranav Baskar
Here’s a timeline of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
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A large billboard on the side of a road with the U.S., Pakistani and Iranian flags. It reads, “Islamabad Talks.”
Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, on Friday as the city prepares to host the talks between the United States and Iran.Credit...Waseem Khan/Reuters
An American delegation led by Vice President JD Vance met on Saturday with senior Iranian negotiators in Pakistan, officials from Iran and the White House said.
It was a historic encounter between top officials from the United States and Iran, adversaries with a strained diplomatic history that stretches back almost half a century. Here is a look at key moments from past negotiations.
The Hostage Crisis and the 1980s
On Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took dozens of Americans hostage, igniting a 444-day crisis that defined the final year of Jimmy Carter’s presidency.
The hostages were not freed until the start of President Ronald Reagan’s first term in 1981, through an agreement brokered by Algeria. In exchange for the hostages’ freedom, the United States agreed to lift sanctions on Iran and stay out of Iranian politics.
In the 1980s, American officials began secretly facilitating the sale of weapons to Iran in exchange for its help in securing the release of American hostages held by Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group backed by Iran. The U.S. government then used the money from those weapons sales to fund a right-wing insurgency in Nicaragua.
The scandal, known as the Iran-Contra affair, broke with U.S. policy of not negotiating with terrorist groups and not aiding Iran. It also revealed that, despite the frequently heard chants of “Death to America” in Iran, senior Iranian officials were willing to deal with the United States if they saw it as being in their interest.
The Late ’90s and Early 2000s
This period saw increased public engagement between the United States and Iran. Talks between senior American and Iranian officials took place at the United Nations General Assembly in 1998.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the United States and Iran developed back channels to coordinate the American military campaign in Afghanistan against the Taliban, who were harboring Osama bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader who directed the attacks.
But relations deteriorated sharply after President George W. Bush described Iran as being part of an “axis of evil,” and the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 saw Iran-allied militias fighting American troops there.
There was also growing U.S. concern over Iran’s nuclear program, which the Iranians said was for peaceful scientific purposes.
The Short-Lived Nuclear Deal
President Barack Obama came into office in 2009 emphasizing his desire for diplomacy with Iran. But attempts to foster better relations were scuttled after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then Iran’s hard-line president, ordered a crackdown on domestic protests and the expansion of the nuclear program.
The Obama administration then placed far-reaching, devastating sanctions on Iran to persuade it to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
In 2013, the election in Iran of Hassan Rouhani, a more moderate president, offered an opening to reset the relationship, as exemplified by a historic phone call between Mr. Obama and Mr. Rouhani that same year.
In 2015, after months of painstaking negotiations, Iran, the United States and other countries reached a nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The deal limited Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some American and international economic sanctions.
Three years later, President Trump pulled out of the deal and reimposed stringent sanctions. Since then, various diplomatic efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear program have largely been unsuccessful.
The 12-Day War
In April 2025, the Trump administration began new nuclear negotiations with Iran. Indirect meetings were held in Oman, led by Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, who is involved in the current negotiations in Pakistan. Oman mediated further talks in Rome and Muscat, the Omani capital, but the sides struggled to reach an agreement.
The talks were derailed in June when Israel launched a military campaign that decimated Iran’s military chain of command. A week later, the United States joined with Israel to attack sites they said were used to enrich uranium, dealing significant damage to Iran’s nuclear program.
2026 Nuclear Talks
In February, amid escalating threats by Mr. Trump to attack Iran over its nuclear program, American and Iranian officials took part in indirect talks in Switzerland but did not find a breakthrough.
On Feb. 28, the United States and Israel launched strikes across Iran, igniting a war that lasted for more than a month, with a cease-fire agreed this week.
Mr. Vance, who is leading the American delegation in Pakistan, said ahead of the talks that he believed the negotiations were “going to be positive,” but he also had a warning for Iran.
“If they’re going to try to play us, then they’re going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive,” he said.
Yeganeh Torbati contributed reporting.
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Tyler Pager
April 11, 2026, 10:54 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Tyler PagerReporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
In addition to Vance, Witkoff and Kushner, the U.S. delegation in Islamabad includes Andy Baker, Vance’s national security adviser; Michael Vance, a special adviser to the vice president for Asian affairs; and a variety of subject matter experts.
Farnaz Fassihi and Tyler Pager
April 11, 2026, 10:41 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Farnaz Fassihi and Tyler Pager
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Vice President JD Vance met face to face in Islamabad on Saturday afternoon, according to a White House official and two Iranian officials familiar with the talks, which they said took place in the presence of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan.
April 11, 2026, 9:50 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Mark MazzettiEric Schmitt and Julian E. BarnesReporting from Washington
U.S. intelligence shows China taking a more active role in the Iran war.
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An anti-U.S. billboard on Sunday in Tehran showing American aircraft captured in a net.Credit...Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
American intelligence agencies have obtained information that China in recent weeks may have sent a shipment of shoulder-fired missiles to Iran for its conflict with the United States and Israel, according to U.S. officials.
The officials said that the intelligence is not definitive that the shipment has been sent, and that there is no evidence that the Chinese missiles have yet been used against American or Israeli forces during the conflict.
But even a debate in Beijing over sending missiles to Iran suggests the degree that China sees itself as having a stake in the conflict. Intelligence agencies have assessed that China is secretly taking an active stance in the war, allowing some companies to ship chemicals, fuel and components that can be used in military production to Iran for the war.
Shoulder fired missiles, known as MANPADS, are capable of shooting down low-flying aircraft.
China has long been reluctant to send finished military equipment to Iran, but some officials in the government want Beijing to allow its companies to directly supply the Iranian security forces during the conflict with the United States.
If the Chinese government did allow the shipment of missiles, it would be a significant escalation and an indication that at least some of China’s leaders are working actively to bring about an American military defeat in a war that has engulfed the Middle East.
The intelligence about possible Chinese support to Iran comes as American intelligence agencies have seen evidence that Russia has provided the Iranian military with specific satellite intelligence to help Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps target American ships, along with military and diplomatic installations throughout the Middle East.
Taken together, the military support to Iran shows how America’s powerful adversaries have seen an opportunity to raise the costs for the United States for launching the war and to potentially bog down the American military in the conflict.
Chinese support to Iran comes at a delicate moment in US-China relations. President Trump is planning next month to travel to China to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, a summit that is expected to focus on a range of trade, technology and military issues. The summit was originally scheduled for March, but was delayed because of the Iran war.
American intelligence agencies have been carefully tracking what support Russia and China have provided to Iran during the war. American officials have seen Russia as more eager to help, sending food aid, nonlethal military supplies and satellite imagery to Tehran. But Moscow appears to have ruled out providing any offensive or defensive military equipment, for fear of provoking the United States.
Chinese officials overall have been eager to protect, at least publicly, their image as a neutral party. Former officials say that Iran is reliant on China for parts that go into its missiles and drones, but Beijing is able to argue that those components, however crucial, can be used to manufacture more than just weaponry. China also provided some intelligence and supplied dual-use parts to Iran, much as they provided to Russia during its war with Ukraine.
A CNN report on Saturday said that China was preparing to send a shipment of shoulder-fired missiles to Iran in the coming weeks.
A spokesman for China’s embassy to the United States strongly denied his government had shipped missiles to Iran during the war.
“China has never provided weapons to any party in the conflict; the information in question is untrue,” said Liu Pengyu, the spokesman. “As a responsible major country, China consistently fulfills its international obligations. We urge the U.S. side to refrain from making baseless allegations, maliciously drawing connections, and engaging in sensationalism; we hope that relevant parties will do more to help de-escalate tensions.”
China is heavily dependent on oil that passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and is anxious not to do anything that extends the war, according to American officials. At the same time, at least some Chinese officials are interested in supporting Tehran in a war that is seen as weakening American standing and strength.
China is Iran’s largest trading partner, and the largest purchaser of Iranian oil. According to a report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a group founded by Congress to examine America’s bilateral ties to China, “Chinese purchases account for roughly 90 percent of Iran’s exported oil, providing tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue that supports Iran’s government budget and military activities.”
Still, China experts have noted that China’s public rhetoric during the Iran war has been mostly neutral, possibly because of the deep economic ties that China has with Arab nations in the Persian Gulf which have been under attack by Iran during the conflict.
“If anything, they are siding rhetorically more so with their Gulf partners than with Iran,” said Henrietta Levin of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “The economic, the technological relationship, the energy relationship with the Gulf is in many ways more strategically significant for China than anything it has with Iran.”
Anton Troianovski contributed reporting from Washington.
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Leily Nikounazar, Tyler Pager, and Yeganeh Torbati
April 11, 2026, 9:35 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Leily Nikounazar, Tyler Pager, and Yeganeh Torbati
State media in Iran reported that the United States had agreed to release frozen Iranian assets abroad. Speaking to The New York Times, a U.S. official denied that was the case, saying that nothing had been agreed to and made official yet. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal talks.
On Friday, the head of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is part of the Iranian delegation, introduced what appeared to be a new demand for frozen Iranian assets to be released before negotiations could begin.
Aaron Boxerman
April 11, 2026, 9:31 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Aaron BoxermanReporting from Jerusalem
Israel’s continuing assault in Lebanon has emerged as a snarl in the U.S.-Iran peace negotiations. The Israeli military said on Saturday afternoon that it had struck more than 200 targets in Lebanon affiliated with Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group, over the past 24 hours. Iran has demanded that the cease-fire apply to the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon as well. President Trump said he had discussed Israel reining in those attacks to enable the talks with Iran to go smoothly.
Tyler Pager
April 11, 2026, 9:30 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Tyler PagerReporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
As Vice President JD Vance holds meetings in Pakistan, President Trump is posting about the war on Truth Social. His latest post attacks the media for reporting anything other than Iran is “LOSING, and LOSING BIG!” He bragged about efforts to kill Iranian leaders and what he says is the U.S. military’s success in damaging Iran’s Navy, and missile and drone factories.
“The only thing they have going is the threat that a ship may “bunk” into one of their sea mines which, by the way, all 28 of their mine dropper boats are also lying at the bottom of the sea,” he wrote. “We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the World.” His claim about clearing the strait of mines could not immediately be confirmed.
Leily Nikounazar and Tyler Pager
April 11, 2026, 8:42 a.m. ET5 hours ago
Leily Nikounazar and Tyler Pager
Negotiations between Iran and the United States have begun in Islamabad, Iranian state media reported on Saturday afternoon. The talks are taking place with the “mediation” of Pakistan, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency, but the exact format of the talks was unclear. The White House declined to confirm any meetings beyond a bilateral engagement with the Pakistanis earlier on Saturday.
Ismaeel Naar
April 11, 2026, 6:43 a.m. ET7 hours ago
Ismaeel NaarReporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The Persian Gulf states were relatively calm on Saturday, with no attacks reported in the morning, as talks were expected between the U.S. and Iran in Pakistan. During the five-week war, gulf nations have come under missile and drone barrages from Iran in retaliation for U.S. strikes. In Saudi Arabia, energy facilities in the oil-rich Eastern Province, as well as in Riyadh and Yanbu Industrial City have come under attack.
On Saturday, Saudi Arabia announced the arrival of a military force from Pakistan, including fighter jets, at its King Abdulaziz Air Base in Eastern Province. The countries signed a mutual defense deal last year stipulating that an attack on one would be considered an attack on the other.
Tyler Pager
April 11, 2026, 6:04 a.m. ET8 hours ago
Tyler PagerReporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
Vice President JD Vance held a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan on Saturday, the White House said. The U.S. delegation also includes Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The Pakistani delegation included Mohsin Naqvi, the interior minister, and Ishaq Dar, the foreign minister.
Zia ur-Rehman
April 11, 2026, 5:48 a.m. ET8 hours ago
Zia ur-Rehman
Dozens of reporters gathered in Islamabad to cover the U.S.-Iranian negotiations are mostly in the dark about the talks, despite being within walking distance of the hotel where they are expected to occur. “No one knows when, where, or how these talks are taking place,” Nadir Guramani, a Pakistani journalist, said at the Jinnah Convention Center, a sprawling government complex where the press was gathered. “We do not even know what is happening outside, as movement across the city is restricted,” he added.
Tyler Pager
April 11, 2026, 5:47 a.m. ET8 hours ago
Tyler PagerReporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
There are few public details about the high-level talks — not even the timing.
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Vance, in a suit and tie, stands outside, surrounded by other men in suits.
Vice President JD Vance being greeted on Saturday by Pakistani officials in Islamabad, Pakistan.Credit...Pool photo by Jacquelyn Martin
Vice President JD Vance traveled just shy of 17 hours on Friday for what he hoped would be the highest-level meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials since 1979.
But even after his arrival in Islamabad, the timing of any talks remained unclear. Iranian officials threatened at various points to refuse direct meetings if the United States did not accede to various demands, including unfreezing Iran’s overseas assets and expanding the cease-fire to include Lebanon.
The White House did not share any schedule, with officials emphasizing the sensitivity and fluidity of the negotiations. It was unclear how many meetings the U.S. delegation — which included Steve Witkoff, President Trump's special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law — would hold while in Pakistan. They were not even sure how long they would stay in the country.
By Saturday afternoon, the American delegation had held one meeting with foreign counterparts: a bilateral engagement with Pakistan. Mr. Vance, Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan and other Pakistani officials. The White House did not provide a statement about the meeting.
The talks are being held amid a fragile cease-fire that Pakistan negotiated hours before a Tuesday deadline set by Mr. Trump. The president had threatened to wipe out Iranian civilization if the country did not agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The in-person talks were announced the day after the cease-fire deal, even amid disagreements about what the cease-fire included and whether each side was holding up its end of the arrangement.
Mr. Vance, meanwhile, finds himself leading an American delegation to negotiate a lasting peace for a war he adamantly opposed starting. He repeatedly raised concerns before the conflict, telling colleagues that regime-change war would be a disaster.
And yet on Saturday morning, Mr. Vance arrived in Islamabad, greeted by a delegation of Pakistani leaders and given a bouquet of flowers by a young boy. He made a brief stop at the U.S. Embassy before continuing on to the Serena Hotel, the five-star hotel that was emptied out earlier in the week to accommodate the delegations.
Throughout Islamabad, Pakistani officials have affixed signs on lampposts and billboards with the American, Pakistani and Iranian flags to advertise the negotiations, which they have termed the “Islamabad Talks.”
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Yeganeh Torbati
April 11, 2026, 5:20 a.m. ETApril 11, 2026
Yeganeh Torbati
Many Iranians are glad the fighting has paused. Some hard-liners aren’t.
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Signs held during a march in Tehran on April 9 to commemorate the death of Iran’s former supreme leader.CreditCredit...Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
When the United States and Iran agreed to a cease-fire this week, many Iranians welcomed the reprieve from a devastating war that had stretched for over five weeks. But some hard-line supporters of the government were left deeply unhappy.
At a march held on Thursday in Tehran to commemorate the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader who was killed at the outset of the U.S.-Israeli campaign, some demonstrators held signs that read: “Cease-fire is prohibited. It’s time for revenge” and “No compromise, no surrender. Fight until victory.”
The hard-liners’ distaste for negotiations with the United States is adding to the pressure on Iranian officials as they engage with their American counterparts on Saturday in Pakistan to discuss terms for an end to the war.
Conservative Iranians opposed to the cease-fire argue that the United States and its ally Israel have proven that they cannot be trusted. They point to the last two rounds of negotiations between Iran and the United States, which were interrupted by military attacks on Iran.
They are furious that Israel has continued to strike Lebanon in the days after the cease-fire was agreed. And they believe that Iran was winning the war, and now risks squandering that advantage.
“What happened was #diplomatic_sabotage in the midst of battlefield success,” wrote Seyed Ehsan Hosseini, an energy journalist who previously worked at a news outlet affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, in an X post on the second day of the cease-fire. “Abandon Lebanon, and God will abandon us.”
After President Trump wrote on social media that Iran could not enrich uranium, something it has claimed as an inherent right, Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of Iran’s parliament and spokesman for the legislature’s national security and foreign policy committee, called for Iranian officials to “cancel negotiations with the defeated devil so they know that we are not in a position of weakness.”
Hard-liners within Iran generally have more freedom to harshly criticize the government, especially the conduct and policy decisions of elected figures who come from more moderate camps.
Some of those conservative figures have been upset for years over what they see as inadequate deterrence against attacks by the United States and Israel, believing this has emboldened Iran’s enemies to act more aggressively against the country.
Much of the Iranian population is opposed to the current government, and the country has seen round after round of nationwide protests demanding an end to the Islamic republic.
Given that limited popular support, ensuring the backing of its base is especially important for the government.
If this round of negotiations were to again be cut short by strikes on Iran, or if Iranian officials were seen to be conceding too much, the support of those hard-liners could be at risk.
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Leily Nikounazar
April 11, 2026, 5:18 a.m. ETApril 11, 2026
Leily Nikounazar
Iran’s delegation has met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, Iranian state television reported in a short update on Saturday. Pakistan is mediating talks between the United States and Iran.
Diego Ibarra Sanchez
April 11, 2026, 5:11 a.m. ETApril 11, 2026
Diego Ibarra Sanchez
In the coastal city of Sidon, Lebanon, mourners paid tribute to 13 state security personnel who were killed the previous day by an Israeli strike in the southern city of Nabatieh. Israel says it is striking Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia backed by Iran. But the attacks have threatened to derail the U.S.-Iranian cease-fire, and several countries have called for Lebanon to be included in the truce.
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CreditCredit...By Diego Ibarra Sánchez for The New York Times
Rawan Sheikh Ahmad
April 11, 2026, 4:12 a.m. ETApril 11, 2026
Rawan Sheikh AhmadReporting from Haifa, Israel
State media in Lebanon reported renewed gunfire and Israeli military activity in the country’s south on Saturday. The National News Agency said an Israeli attack helicopter fired toward the town of Taybeh. Continued Israeli strikes against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group, have raised concerns about the stability of the cease-fire, as international calls grow to extend the truce to Lebanon.
Tyler Pager
April 11, 2026, 3:44 a.m. ETApril 11, 2026
Tyler PagerReporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
Vice President JD Vance has arrived at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad for planned talks with Pakistani and Iranian officials. The White House has not released a schedule.
Elian Peltier
April 11, 2026, 3:10 a.m. ETApril 11, 2026
Elian PeltierReporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
The U.S. and Iranian delegations are now both in Islamabad for what Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan has described as “a make or break moment.” Pakistan’s army chief and foreign minister welcomed Vice President JD Vance to the country on Saturday. After Vance’s arrival, Ishaq Dar, the foreign minister, “expressed the hope that parties would engage constructively” in the talks, which are expected to start a few hours from now. First, both delegations are scheduled to meet with Sharif.
Tyler Pager
April 11, 2026, 2:37 a.m. ETApril 11, 2026
Tyler PagerReporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
Throughout Islamabad, Pakistani officials have put up signs advertising the negotiations. The signs say “Islamabad Talks April 2026” with the flags of Pakistan, the United States and Iran.
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Credit...Anjum Naveed/Associated Press
Tyler Pager
April 11, 2026, 2:17 a.m. ETApril 11, 2026
Tyler PagerReporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
Vice President JD Vance has arrived in Islamabad for talks with Iran. He landed around 10:30 a.m. local time and was greeted by Pakistani officials at the Nur Khan air force base. He received a bouquet of flowers from a young boy before walking down a red carpet surrounded by an honor guard. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who arrived in Pakistan separately, met him at the end of the red carpet.
Elian Peltier
April 11, 2026, 2:05 a.m. ETApril 11, 2026
Elian PeltierReporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
The U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad are scheduled to take place at the five-star Serena Hotel, according to Pakistani officials who were not authorized to speak publicly because of the sensitivity around the event. The hotel was emptied earlier this week to host the delegations. We are reporting from a convention center across the road that has been arranged for the dozens of journalists covering the talks, but we have not been granted access to the Serena.
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Credit...Aamir Qureshi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Farnaz Fassihi
April 11, 2026, 1:13 a.m. ETApril 11, 2026
Farnaz Fassihi has covered Iran for three decades, living and traveling throughout the country. She was a war correspondent based in the Middle East for 15 years.
Iran looks to project unity with a large delegation for peace talks.
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A photograph released by Pakistan’s government showing the Iranian delegation led by the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, second from right; and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, second from left. They were welcomed by Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, left; and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, right, in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Friday.Credit...Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, via Reuters
An Iranian team led by the veteran politician and military commander Gen. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf are scheduled to negotiate with an American delegation headed by Vice President JD Vance on Saturday in Islamabad, Pakistan, to discuss a possible end to the war.
The stakes are high for both sides. The war is deeply unpopular in the United States and President Trump is looking for an exit ramp. Iran has been pummeled with airstrikes, leaving its infrastructure severely destroyed and its economy in ruins.
“We have good will, but we do not have trust,” Mr. Ghalibaf, who is the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, said upon arriving in Islamabad on Friday evening. He pointed out that two earlier rounds of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, in June and February, ended with military strikes instead of a deal.
Iran appears to be taking the talks on Saturday seriously. The delegation of at least 70 people includes experienced diplomats and negotiators, experts in finance and sanctions, military officials and legal advisers, according to Iranian media and a list of the delegation seen by The New York Times.
Notable officials in the Iranian camp include Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi; Ali Bagheri Kani, a member of Iran’s National Security Council; Admiral Ali Akbar Ahmadian, a former chief of staff for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and secretary of the National Security Council; Gen. Esmail Ahmadi Moghadam, a retired military commander who is now the head of Iran’s National Defense University; and Abdolnasser Hemati, governor of the Central Bank of Iran.
Three senior Iranian officials familiar with the talks said Iran’s team had full authority to make decisions in Pakistan and was not required to consult with Tehran given the critical nature of the negotiations. The officials, who asked not to be named because they were discussing sensitive issues, said the new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had given Mr. Ghalibaf, who is a close friend and ally, the power to make a deal or walk away.
Iran’s vice president, Mohammad Reza Aref, said in a social media post on Friday that Mr. Ghalibaf was now “representing the nation and the nezam,” using the Persian word for the Islamic Republic’s entire system, which includes not only the elected government but also the supreme leader. “I wish him success,” Mr. Aref said.
“What we can read from Iran’s delegation is that they have not come to stonewall,” said Vali Nasr, a professor of Middle Eastern studies and an Iran expert at Johns Hopkins University. “They have come with full authority and seriousness to reach a deal with the United States.”
Mr. Nasr, who also served in the State Department as a special U.S. representative to Afghanistan during the Obama administration, said that typically such a large delegation of experts would only be deployed if negotiations were in the final stages of a deal, not for an initial testing of the waters.
If Mr. Ghalibaf and Mr. Vance meet in person on Saturday it will represent a major turn in relations between the United States and Iran and the highest-level meeting of officials since diplomatic relations ruptured in 1979. Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, will accompany Mr. Vance and both have negotiated with the Iranians before.
Mr. Nasr said that Tehran and Washington might have advanced in talks further than publicly known during back-channel messaging mediated by Pakistan over the past week. Washington sent Tehran a 15-point peace plan and Iran replied with its own 10-point counter plan, which Mr. Trump said would be the framework for talks when he announced the cease-fire on Tuesday.
Among the issues on the table are ending the war, opening the Strait of Hormuz to ships and Iran’s nuclear program. Iran’s interests include securing comprehensive sanctions relief, the release of frozen funds and compensation for damage during the war.
Iran has said that any peace deal, temporary or permanent, must also include its closest regional ally, Hezbollah, in Lebanon. This has been an especially fraught point of contention since massive Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon killed more than 300 people on Wednesday.
Iranian officials, true to form, traveled with symbolism. They arrived wearing head-to-toe black suits and shirts, a sign of mourning. On their plane, according to photographs and videos on Iranian state media, photos and backpacks filled empty seats to represent the nearly 170 children killed in an elementary school when an American tomahawk missile struck it.
Iranian state media said the delegation would meet with Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, at noon on Saturday ahead of meeting with the Americans.
Omid Memarian, a senior fellow and Iran expert at Dawn Institute, a Washington-based nonprofit focused on American foreign policy, said the large delegation was meant to signal that Iran’s top leaders were backing it.
“The most important message Iran is sending with the composition of its delegation,” he said, “is that there is internal consensus for negotiations and a deal at the highest levels of the regime.”
Shirin Hakim contributed reporting.
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Michael Crowley
April 10, 2026, 8:06 p.m. ETApril 10, 2026
Michael CrowleyReporting from Washington
Trump’s hopes for a Iran peace deal may hinge on Israel’s war in Lebanon.
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A Lebanese man stood on a pile of debris in the Corniche El Mazraa area of Beirut after the Israeli bombardment of the capital on Wednesday.Credit...David Guttenfelder/The New York Times
Even as Air Force Two carried Vice President JD Vance toward Pakistan for weekend talks with Iran, President Trump’s shaky cease-fire with Tehran was in growing jeopardy as world leaders hastened efforts to prevent a return to all-out war.
For a third day, work to prop up the cease-fire, which was announced on Tuesday, focused on Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. Iran says the continued assault violates its deal with Mr. Trump to stop U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran in exchange for safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has resisted international pressure to halt his country’s related campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon.
Iran had threatened to call off its meeting with Mr. Vance at a luxury hotel in Islamabad, set for Saturday morning local time. The arrival of an Iranian delegation in Islamabad on Friday, even after Mr. Netanyahu vowed to continue his Lebanon offensive, suggested that the talks would commence as planned.
With the future of the world economy at stake, several foreign nations worked to keep diplomacy between Washington and Tehran on track. On Friday, the World Bank’s president, Ajay Banga, told Reuters that a return to war and further Iranian disruption of commercial shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz could significantly slow global economic growth and exacerbate inflation.
Mindful of such bleak scenarios, top officials from across Europe and Asia joined countless calls and meetings on the subject with their counterparts. France’s president pressured Israel to halt its attacks in Lebanon. Britain’s prime minister finished a three-day visit to Gulf Arab capitals to discuss the strait’s reopening. Saudi Arabian officials urged China to continue its pressure on Iran to remain engaged in diplomacy.
In a Friday address to his nation, Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said the planned U.S. meeting with Iran was a “make or break” moment. And Mr. Sharif — until now not known as a kingpin of international diplomacy — said on social media that he had fielded calls from a slew of world leaders, including from Qatar, Germany, Australia and Britain.
Even if the dispute over Lebanon does not derail the Islamabad talks, said Vali R. Nasr, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, it will have further poisoned the atmosphere for discussions between the two sides after five weeks of warfare and decades of distrust.
That will make bridging the wide divide between Washington and Tehran on Iran’s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz and other matters even more difficult. Veteran diplomats were already doubtful that a larger agreement was possible without at least extending the two-week clock established by Tuesday’s cease-fire.
“Lebanon has changed the context of the talks,” Mr. Nasr said. Iran has stressed its view that the cease-fire was supposed to apply to Lebanon. Although Mr. Vance on Wednesday claimed there had been a “misunderstanding” over the status of Lebanon, Mr. Sharif’s announcement of the deal — which was edited in advance by the Trump White House — called for an end to the fighting there.
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Vice President JD Vance, boarding Air Force Two on Friday, is leading a delegation for talks on Iran.Credit...Pool photo by Jacquelyn Martin
“If you’re already thinking that this guy, Mr. Trump, may cheat you, that doesn’t augur well,” Mr. Nasr said.
Tehran has other reasons to distrust Mr. Trump and his emissaries, he noted. During his first term as president, Mr. Trump abandoned a 2015 nuclear deal that Iran had painstakingly negotiated with the Obama administration over roughly 20 months. And twice in the past year, Mr. Trump has begun talks with Tehran only to launch devastating attacks without warning.
Mr. Vance will be joined in Islamabad by Mr. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who participated in the previous rounds of nuclear talks with Iran — and who came away insisting the Iranians were the deceitful party. The three Americans plan to negotiate with Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, and the Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
It is unclear whether the two sides will meet in person or pass messages through Pakistani intermediaries. Diplomats say that direct meetings are far more efficient and less prone to miscommunication, but can also bring political risk by appearing conciliatory.
The talks are to be held at Islamabad’s five-star Serena Hotel, whose guests were abruptly instructed this week to check out because Pakistan’s government had “requisitioned our hotel for an important event,” according to Russia’s TASS news service.
The talks may be shaped by outside powers invested in their success. Among them is China, whose economy depends heavily on gas and oil shipped from Gulf Arab nations through the Strait of Hormuz.
“Any escalation or expansion of the conflict would run counter to China’s interests in stable and functioning global energy markets,” said Ryan Hass, a former career diplomat and White House national security official who directs the China center at the Brookings Institution. Mr. Hass said that would support reports that Beijing urged Tehran to accept the cease-fire, including Mr. Sharif’s message of public thanks to several nations, including China, after the deal was concluded.
A Saudi official said that Riyadh has encouraged China to remain involved as the diplomacy proceeds.
Liu Pengyu, the spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said in a statement that China has been working since the conflict began “to help bring about a cease-fire and end to the conflict.”
Experts said the cease-fire has held despite serious flaws because both sides are eager for some kind of deal. Iran has been under crushing military and economic pressure but has considerable leverage in its demonstrated ability to close the Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Trump has endured rising gas prices, tepid support for the war and dissent from within his political base.
But few actors foresaw Lebanon as posing so much danger to peace efforts.
Mr. Trump has never expressed much interest in the country, which is smaller than Connecticut, with a battered economy and few natural resources.
But Lebanon is of critical importance to Mr. Netanyahu as the home base of Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group formed with Iran’s backing after Israel’s 1982 invasion of southern Lebanon. Israel has long traded cross-border fire and occasionally gone to war with Hezbollah.
But after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks highlighted the threat Israel faces from armed militias on its borders, Mr. Netanyahu has vowed to see the group — which regularly launches rocket attacks into Israel from southern Lebanon — disarmed under a long-stalled United Nations mandate or destroyed.
After a call on Wednesday from Mr. Trump asking him to scale back attacks in Lebanon, Mr. Netanyahu announced that Israel would join talks with Lebanon’s government to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament. The State Department then announced that it would host the parties for a meeting in Washington next week.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump sounded reassured, saying that Mr. Netanyahu would be “scaling back” operations in Lebanon.
But there has been little evidence of that, and Mr. Netanyahu seemed to double down in a public statement, saying he had not agreed to a cease-fire in Lebanon and vowing he would continue “to strike Hezbollah with full force.”
Fearing for the survival of the Iran talks, other world leaders have sought to pressure Mr. Netanyahu. On Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron of France condemned what he called Israel’s “indiscriminate strikes” in Lebanon that day.
Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, said in a statement on Friday that he had discussed the matter earlier with the Lebanese ambassador to Washington and the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon. He added that “Israel refused to discuss a cease-fire with the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which continues to attack Israel and is the main obstacle to peace between the two countries.”
Mr. Nasr said that Iran most likely sees Lebanon as a key test not only of Mr. Trump’s trustworthiness, but also of his ability to control Mr. Netanyahu.
From Iran’s perspective, if Mr. Trump cannot make the Israeli leader stand down in Lebanon, he said, “at best that means the U.S. is unable to control Bibi” and Israeli officials, “which doesn’t give Iran much confidence.”
“At worst,” he added, “that means they can control him, and they have something else up their sleeve.”
Edward Wong contributed reporting.
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Shirin Hakim
April 10, 2026, 7:43 p.m. ETApril 10, 2026
Shirin Hakim
Hezbollah said it had carried out a drone strike targeting Israeli soldiers gathered in a house in Chama, a town in southern Lebanon, in response to repeated Israeli violations of the cease-fire reached with Iran. Iran and Hezbollah say the cease-fire was meant to include Lebanon; the United States and Israel say it was not, and Israel has said it will keep attacking there.
Shirin Hakim
April 10, 2026, 7:43 p.m. ETApril 10, 2026
Shirin Hakim
There was no immediate word on casualties in the strike, which occurred early Saturday local time. But it underscored that fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is a major obstacle to peace between Hezbollah’s ally, Iran, and Israel and the United States.
Julian E. Barnes
April 10, 2026, 7:01 p.m. ETApril 10, 2026
Julian E. BarnesJulian E. Barnes reports on national security and has been tracking the Iranian effort to mine the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran can’t find some of its mines in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. officials say.
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A big cargo ship seen in the distance at sea.
Cargo ships near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen last month from northern Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.Credit...Reuters
Iran has been unable to open the Strait of Hormuz to more shipping traffic because it cannot locate all of the mines it laid in the waterway and lacks the capability to remove them, according to U.S. officials.
The development is one reason Iran has not been able to quickly comply with the Trump administration’s admonitions to let more traffic pass through the strait. It is also potentially a complicating factor as Iranian negotiators and a U.S. delegation led by Vice President JD Vance meet in Pakistan this weekend for peace talks.
Iran used small boats to mine the strait last month, soon after the United States and Israel began their war against the country. The mines, plus the threat of Iranian drone and missile attacks, slowed the number of oil tankers and other vessels passing through the strait to a trickle, driving up energy prices and providing Iran with its best leverage in the war.
Iran left a path through the strait open, allowing ships that pay a toll to pass through.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has issued warnings that ships could collide with sea mines, and semiofficial news organizations have published charts showing safe routes.
Those routes are limited in large part because Iran mined the strait haphazardly, U.S. officials said. It is not clear that Iran recorded where it put every mine. And even when the location was recorded, some mines were placed in a way that allowed them to drift or move, according to the officials.
As with land mines, removing nautical mines is far more difficult than placing them. The U.S. military lacks robust mine removal capabilities, relying on littoral combat ships equipped with mine sweeping capabilities. Iran also does not have the capability of quickly removing mines, even the ones it planted.
In a social media post on Tuesday discussing a pause in the American-Israeli war with Iran, President Trump said a two-week cease-fire was contingent on the “COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING” of the Strait of Hormuz.
On Wednesday, Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said that the strait would be open to traffic “with due consideration of technical limitations.” American officials have said Mr. Araghchi’s comment about technical limitations was a reference to Iran’s inability to quickly find or remove the mines.
Mr. Araghchi is now in Islamabad for meetings on Saturday with Mr. Vance. Given Mr. Trump’s demands to open the strait, the issue of how quickly safe passage through the waterway can be increased is likely to be a point of discussion.
The U.S. military sought to destroy Iran’s navy, sinking ships and targeting naval bases. But Iran has hundreds of small boats that it can use to harass ships or lay mines. Destroying all of those small boats has proved impossible.
Even before Iran began laying mines, threats from its leaders quickly disrupted global shipping and sent oil prices up sharply. On March 2, a senior official with the Revolutionary Guards announced that the strait was closed and claimed Iran would set ships “ablaze” if they entered the waterway, according to state media.
In the days after that threat, Iran began mining the strait, even as the United States intensified strikes on Iranian naval assets. At the time, American officials said Iran was not planting mines quickly or efficiently.
Because it was difficult to track the small boats deploying the mines, the United States is uncertain precisely how many Iran has placed in the strait or where they are located.
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Shirin Hakim
April 10, 2026, 6:04 p.m. ETApril 10, 2026
Shirin Hakim
Iran does not trust the United States, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the leader of Tehran’s negotiating team, said at the airport in Islamabad ahead of expected talks, according to Fars, a semi-official Iranian news agency. “We have goodwill, but we do not have trust,” said Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian Parliament. His country is open to a “real agreement,” he said, but he warned that it would pursue its aims by other means if talks become a “deceptive show.”
Chris Cameron
April 10, 2026, 6:01 p.m. ETApril 10, 2026
Chris CameronReporting from Washington
When asked if he had a backup plan in case peace talks fell through in Pakistan, President Trump told reporters: “You don’t need a back up plan. Their military is defeated. Their military is gone. We’ve degraded just about everything.” But Iran has shown that it can still fire back. Days before the cease-fire, Iranian forces shot down a U.S. fighter jet, an episode that culminated in dramatic operations to rescue two downed airmen deep in hostile territory.
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Credit...Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
Katie Rogers
April 10, 2026, 5:25 p.m. ETApril 10, 2026
Katie RogersWhite House reporter
Emerging in public for the first time in several days, President Trump spoke briefly to reporters before attending a political event in Virginia this afternoon. He had this message for Vice President JD Vance as he travels to Pakistan for negotiations with the Iranians: “I wish him well.”
Elian Peltier
April 10, 2026, 4:51 p.m. ETApril 10, 2026
Elian PeltierReporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
Pakistan, facing many crises of its own, tries to solve a big one, in Iran.
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Three men look up at a TV screen on a yellow wall, which is showing images of Donald Trump and Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. Text on the screen reads “No deal with Iran will be very painful, warns Trump.”
Watching coverage of the Iran war at a barbershop in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Friday.Credit...Waseem Khan/Reuters
Madeleine Albright, a former U.S. secretary of state, once compared Pakistan to “an international migraine.”
These days, its leaders are on a mission to offer the world a pain reliever.
Pakistan is set to host delegations from the United States and Iran on Saturday for the first formal talks since their war began on Feb. 28, the latest diplomatic feat from an unlikely mediator. Pakistan helped broker the cease-fire announced on Tuesday, just ahead of a deadline set by President Trump, who had threatened to erase Iranian civilization.
In Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, the authorities have blocked roads with shipping containers and barbed wire and deployed thousands of security personnel ahead of the talks between the U.S. and Iranian delegations, led by Vice President JD Vance and the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Even hiking trails on the lush hills overlooking Islamabad have been closed to the public. To prepare for the talks, Pakistani officials declared Thursday and Friday public holidays.
They remain tight-lipped about the details though, including where and when the talks will take place and how long they will last, citing security concerns and the need to let Iranian and U.S. officials drive the negotiations.
The cease-fire was facilitated by Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and by its army chief, Syed Asim Munir, who has nurtured a close relationship with Mr. Trump. China, an ally of both Iran and Pakistan, also made a last-minute diplomatic push.
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Uniformed men, some with guns, stand near a few parked vehicles on what looks like a blocked highway. Barbed wire and traffic cones are visible behind them, as is a tall building in the distance.
Security has been tightened in Islamabad, especially near the hotel where the talks are expected to take place.Credit...Aamir Qureshi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
But the cease-fire remains shaky. Iran is keeping a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, despite Mr. Trump’s demand to reopen it. And even as Mr. Vance was on his way to Pakistan, Mr. Ghalibaf said conditions for negotiations had not been met yet, citing continued Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon that have killed more than 1,800 people since the war began, according to Lebanese authorities.
Mr. Sharif said on Tuesday that the two-week cease-fire extended to Lebanon. Mr. Vance and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel later denied that.
Mr. Sharif and European leaders have urged Israel to stop its strikes in Lebanon, and Mr. Trump has said he had asked Mr. Netanyahu to scale back attacks on Lebanon.
“Pakistan enjoys trust on both sides and plays the role of a facilitator, a conciliator and a mediator,” said Inam Ul Haque, a retired Pakistani general. “But like many in this conflict, it is walking a very fine line.”
Pakistan’s role has drawn praise from leaders around the world, a remarkable turnaround for a country crippled with debt, at war with one neighbor, Afghanistan, and in constant tensions with another, India.
Pakistan has had one of South Asia’s most sluggish economic growth rates over the past few years, hovering just above 3 percent last year. It is slowly emerging from a 2022 crisis that brought it close to financial collapse. It was rescued by loans from China and Gulf countries.
Its allies and foes alike have often derided Pakistan as an unreliable partner. During the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, it played a double game, offering support to the United States while also sheltering the Taliban.
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JD Vance returns a salute to a military officer as he steps down from a helicopter.
Vice President JD Vance stepping off Marine Two at Joint Base Andrews, Md., on Friday, before flying to Pakistan for talks on Iran.Credit...Pool photo by Jacquelyn Martin
But its powerful army chief, Field Marshal Munir, has developed a warm personal relationship with Mr. Trump since last year. The two had also discussed Iran amid the 12-day war last June between Iran and Israel.
In recent weeks, Field Marshal Munir has been in regular touch with Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance, according to Pakistani and White House officials. Mr. Sharif and his foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, have worked the phones with leaders of other countries, including Iran, with which Pakistan shares a long, restive border and decades of deep, if sometimes fraught, bonds.
But Pakistan does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. On Thursday, Israeli officials accused Pakistan of not being a neutral arbiter after its defense minister, Khawaja Asif, posted a statement on social media with antisemitic undertones. Mr. Asif has since deleted the post.
Pakistan has an urgent interest in ending the war. It normally imports 85 percent of its oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz. More than half of the $40 billion in annual remittances to Pakistan are from citizens working in the Gulf. And Iran’s attacks on Saudi Arabia have threatened to drag Pakistan into the conflict under a Saudi-Pakistani defense agreement, under which an attack on one country is considered an attack on the other.
“Pakistan sees the Middle East as the most important region in the world for its interests,” said Michael Kugelman, a senior fellow for South Asia at the Atlantic Council, a think tank. “It might be more vulnerable to the war’s effects than any country in the region because of its dependence on the Middle East and geography.”
Pakistan’s immediate proximity to Iran has also left it exposed to the risk of violence in its border province of Balochistan, where security forces are already fighting lethal insurgencies.
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Security officers search through the garments and possessions of two men on a motorcycle. Traffic barriers are visible in the background, as are several men in helmets and vests bearing the word “Police.”
Searching commuters at a checkpoint in Islamabad on Friday.Credit...Rebecca Conway/Getty Images
The violence there has driven terrorism-related deaths in Pakistan to their highest point since 2013, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, a research group. It said Pakistan in 2025 suffered the largest number of casualties from terrorist incidents of any country in the world, with 1,139 people killed.
Islamabad, a city of about a million people, had lately been spared the effects of terrorism. But it suffered two attacks in recent months, including a February suicide bombing at a mosque that killed more than 30 worshipers and injured nearly 170 others. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for it.
Officials are also worried about retaliatory violence from Afghanistan, where the Pakistani military has carried out dozens of airstrikes since late February. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of supporting a terrorist group that has carried out hundreds of attacks on Pakistani soil in recent years.
As Pakistan was brokering the Middle East cease-fire, some of its officials discreetly met with their Afghan counterparts for talks in China. Both sides said they would continue the talks and refrain from escalating the conflict, according to China.
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April 10, 2026, 2:35 p.m. ETApril 10, 2026
Euan WardAdam RasgonNatan Odenheimer and Aaron BoxermanEuan Ward reported from Beirut, Lebanon, Adam Rasgon and Natan Odenheimer from Tel Aviv, and Aaron Boxerman from Jerusalem.
Israel and Lebanon will hold talks in Washington next week.
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A child walks by a damaged black car with a shattered rear window. Three people lift a large log amidst debris and damaged buildings.
Residents lifting debris from a damaged car in Beirut, Lebanon, in a neighborhood damaged by Israeli airstrikes earlier this week.Credit...David Guttenfelder/The New York Times
Israel and Lebanon’s ambassadors to the United States are expected to meet in Washington next week for direct talks, according to three Lebanese officials, one Israeli official and another person familiar with the matter.
The initial round of talks will be largely preparatory, meaning a final settlement to end the war in Lebanon is not expected imminently, according to one of the Lebanese officials and the person briefed on the talks, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
With U.S. and Iranian officials set to meet for peace talks in Pakistan on Saturday, the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors also spoke by phone on Friday in the presence of U.S. officials.
During that call, they agreed to meet in Washington on Tuesday, according to statements from both countries, but the two framed the scope of that first meeting differently.
According to a statement from the office of President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon, the parties agreed to hold their first meeting “next Tuesday at the U.S. State Department to discuss announcing a cease-fire and setting a date for the start of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel under U.S. auspices.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, said in a statement that Israel had “agreed to begin formal peace negotiations this coming Tuesday,” and that it “refused to discuss a cease-fire” with Hezbollah.
Whether Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon, is included in the Iran cease-fire is one of the major disputes rattling the truce.
Israel has intensified its attacks in Lebanon since that deal was reached. Iranian officials have warned that negotiations in Pakistan would not begin without a halt in the fighting there — raising the risk that President Trump’s diplomatic push with Tehran could collapse.
Lebanon and Israel do not maintain diplomatic relations, and their officials have met only intermittently in the past half-century, making the meeting on U.S. soil historic. But it does not amount to high-level peace talks between government ministers. And the talks face enormous hurdles from the outset, in part because the Lebanese government has no direct control over Hezbollah, which has long signaled opposition to direct talks with Israel and resisted disarming.
Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Mr. Leiter, and his Lebanese counterpart, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, will lead their countries’ delegations, according to the three Lebanese officials, the Israeli official and the other person familiar with the talks. The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, will also be present, said one Lebanese official and the person familiar with the matter.
Before the parallel talks in Pakistan, a phone call including Mr. Leiter, Ms. Hamadeh Moawad, Mr. Issa, and Mike Needham, a senior State Department official, was also scheduled for Friday.
The diplomatic movements follow a devastating wave of Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday that killed more than 300 people in Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon, including the south, where Israeli forces have invaded amid the latest war with Hezbollah. The conflict began after the militant group fired rockets into Israel last month in solidarity with Tehran.
Mr. Aoun, the Lebanese president, called Wednesday’s attack “a new massacre” that added to Israel’s “dark record,” while Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, claimed scores of those killed were militants.
The State Department confirmed on Thursday that it would host a meeting next week with representatives of Israel and Lebanon to discuss cease-fire negotiations, but did not provide details. That followed a statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel that he had ordered his government to start direct talks with Lebanon focused on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations.
Mr. Netanyahu said, however, that Israel would continue its attacks against the group.
Michael Crowley and Dayana Iwaza contributed reporting.
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Elian Peltier
April 10, 2026, 6:44 a.m. ETApril 10, 2026
Elian PeltierReporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
Islamabad, Pakistan’s quiet capital, steps into the diplomatic spotlight.
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A person paints a yellow and black curb on a road. Tall palm trees and large buildings are visible in the green background.
A worker painting a street side curb near the Serena Hotel in Islamabad on Thursday.Credit...Aamir Qureshi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Less than 24 hours before U.S. and Iranian officials are expected to meet here for high-level peace talks, Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, is locked down.
The authorities have blocked roads with shipping containers and barbed wire, deployed security forces across the city, and sealed off a two-mile radius around the Serena Hotel, where parts of the delegations are scheduled to stay. Even the hiking trails on the lush hills overlooking the city have been closed to the public.
Pakistani officials declared Thursday and Friday as public holidays to prepare the capital, a quiet, green and residential city of just over a million residents in a country of 250 million people.
The Pakistani authorities have disclosed almost no details about the talks, including where they will be held, citing security concerns and the need to let Iranian and U.S. officials drive the negotiations.
Still, Pakistan’s government has welcomed its moment in the international diplomatic spotlight. World leaders in Europe and the Middle East have thanked Pakistan for its mediation efforts. Editorials in Pakistani newspapers have heralded a new era for the country as a regional power broker.
The Pakistani foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, even said that Iranian and U.S. journalists covering the talks could travel to Pakistan and obtain a visa on arrival — a highly unusual measure in a country where foreign reporters usually wait weeks or months before obtaining permission to enter.
More on the Fighting in the Middle East
Iranian Hard-Liners: The most fervent backers of the Islamic republic believe pausing the war for negotiations risks squandering what they see as a hard-won upper hand.
Economic Devastation in Iran: The vast scale of destruction wrought by U.S. and Israeli bombardment will make sanctions relief all the more vital to Iran’s government as it tries to negotiate a peace agreement.
Lebanon: Israel and Lebanon’s ambassadors to the United States are expected to meet in Washington for direct talks, but a final settlement to end the war in Lebanon is not expected immediately.
Strait of Hormuz: Iran has been unable to open the strait to more shipping traffic because it cannot locate all of the mines it laid in the waterway and lacks the capability to remove them, according to U.S. officials.
Deadly Strikes on Civilians in Iran: A visual analysis by The New York Times and munitions experts has uncovered additional evidence showing that the weapons that struck a sports hall, a school and two residential areas in the Iranian city of Lamerd were U.S.-made Precision Strike Missiles. The strikes killed 21 people, according to Iranian officials.
