Iran War Day 41: Vance to lead U.S. delegation for peace talks in Iran

Vance to lead U.S. delegation for Iran talks in Pakistan

Vice President JD Vance will reportedly lead a U.S. delegation to Islamabad for talks with Iranian officials beginning April 11. The delegation will include special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner, with Pakistan serving as mediator.

The talks come as early signs of strain have already emerged in the fragile ceasefire brokered days earlier, with disputes over its scope and implementation threatening to complicate negotiations. 

Officials are expected to focus on whether the temporary pause in fighting can be extended into a broader agreement, though significant gaps remain between the two sides on core issues, including Iran’s nuclear program and regional security demands, according to The New York Times.

Trump warns Iran over its reported fees for ships moving through Strait of Hormuz 

Trump issued a warning to Iran after reports circulated that Tehran may be imposing fees on tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes. 

“There are reports Iran is charging ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz — that better not be happening, and if it is, it needs to stop immediately,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The Financial Times reported April 8 that during the two-week ceasefire, Tehran is planning to require ships passing through the strait to pay the cryptocurrency equivalent of $1 per barrel of oil on board.

Trump says he’s ‘optimistic’ about Iran peace deal 

Trump told NBC News April 9 that he was “very optimistic” a peace deal with Iran was within reach, adding that if Tehran doesn’t “make a deal, it’s going to be very painful.”

Iran’s leaders “talk much differently when you’re at a meeting than they do to the press. They’re much more reasonable,” Trump said during the phone interview. “They’re agreeing to all the things that they have to agree to. Remember, they’ve been conquered. They have no military.”

Tehran threatens to end ceasefire over Israeli strikes in Lebanon

The U.S.-Iran ceasefire seemed to buckle at first as Israeli forces continued carrying out strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah militant fighters in southern Lebanon. As Zeale News previously reported, Iranian officials and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif — who helped broker the agreement — had said Lebanon was included in the agreement. The Trump administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disputed that account.

Mahdi Mohammadi, an adviser to Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned in an X post April 9 that there “will be no ceasefire or negotiations” if Israel continues striking Lebanon. He said the “missiles are ready to launch.” 

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also said in a statement posted to X that the “renewed aggression by the Zionist regime against Lebanon blatantly violates the initial ceasefire” and will render the planned negotiations “meaningless” if they continue.

Israel agrees to talks with Lebanon on Hezbollah 

Israel said April 9 it is prepared to open direct negotiations with Lebanon focused on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations, even as disputes continue over whether Lebanon should have been included in the U.S.-Iranian ceasefire.

In a post on X, Netanyahu said he had instructed officials to begin talks “as soon as possible” following what he described as repeated Lebanese requests for negotiations. 

He said the discussions would center on Hezbollah’s disarmament and broader steps toward peace, adding that Israel welcomed calls from Lebanon’s prime minister to demilitarize Beirut.

Iran’s supreme leader vows revenge, victory over US and Israel 

In a written message circulated by state-run media and cited by NBC News, Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said the war has reinforced his country’s resolve to defeat its enemies, even as “the battlefield has entered a phase of silence” amid the ceasefire.

Khamenei has not been seen publicly since the initial U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran killed his father and predecessor. The Trump administration previously said that the new Iranian leader had been seriously wounded, but the extent of any injuries is not known.

Iran “will certainly punish the aggressors who targeted our country, we will definitely demand compensation for all the damages inflicted and for the blood of the martyrs and their families in this war, and we will certainly bring the management of Strait of Hormuz into a new phase,” Khamenei said. “We pray for a decisive victory over the enemy, whether in the field of negotiations or on the battlefield, and we hope that sooner or later we, and even our enemies, will witness the miraculous effects of this.”