Trump to send Vance-led negotiation team to Pakistan as White House hails 'victory' in Iran
The move comes hours after the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire
President Donald Trump is dispatching a negotiating team led by Vice President JD Vance to Islamabad for peace talks with Iran this weekend.
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The negotiation team will consist of Vice President JD Vance, Trump adviser Steve Witkoff, and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The first round of talks is due to begin on Saturday morning local time.
The move comes hours after the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire in a last-minute deal reached around 90 minutes before Mr Trump’s 8pm ET deadline on Tuesday.
President Trump had previously threatened to strike Iranian power plants and bridges if no agreement was reached by that time.
Speaking at a White House press conference on Wednesday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described Operation Epic Fury as a “victory”, saying it had been completed within Trump’s self-imposed four-to-six week timeline.
“The world has just witnessed a historically swift and successful military triumph,” she added.
Read more: 'This is not the end,' Netanyahu says as he insists Iran war not over despite ceasefire deal
Leavitt said the administration now saw the ceasefire as an opening for further negotiations, based on what she called a “workable” proposal from Iran.
However, it remains unclear what was contained in the “modified” Iranian proposal, which Leavitt said was submitted in response to Mr Trump’s threats on Tuesday.
She said US military action had created “maximum leverage” for Trump and his negotiators, opening the door to a diplomatic solution.
According to Leavitt, Iran agreed to the ceasefire because it “could no longer tolerate being bombed, or taking the gamble of what was to come following President Trump’s 8pm deadline last night”.
She added Iran had agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and that Washington had received a proposal from Tehran that could serve as a “workable basis” for talks.
Leavitt also accused the press of misreporting the negotiations – “I’ve seen a lot of incorrect coverage today from the media about these negotiations and these plans already,” she said, adding that she wanted to “correct the record”.
She said Iran had initially presented a 10-point plan that was “fundamentally unserious, unacceptable and completely disregarded”.
“It was literally thrown in the garbage,” she added.
Leavitt said reports suggesting that the earlier proposal had been seriously considered by the US were false, adding that Iran had since “acknowledged reality” and submitted a “more reasonable” plan.
Leavitt told reporters it was “absurd” to suggest Trump would accept any proposal allowing Iran to enrich uranium.
Leavitt also claimed the US had destroyed Iran’s military-industrial base, which she said had been used to “terrorise the world”, and had significantly degraded the country’s missile and drone capabilities.
She said Iran’s navy had been “annihilated”, claiming it now had “zero submarines” and that 97% of its naval mines had been destroyed.
The press secretary added that the Iranian air force was now functionally “irrelevant”.
"Most importantly, Iran cannot get a nuclear weapon,” she said.
Leavitt also claimed that before Operation Epic Fury, Iran had been aggressively expanding its short-range missile capability as part of what she described as a broader effort to develop nuclear weapons.
She said Iran’s command structure had been destroyed and that its remaining leaders were now living in fear and could no longer move freely.