Vance to lead Iran peace talks in Pakistan: ‘The president’s right-hand man’

Vice President JD Vance will lead the U.S. negotiations with Iran in Pakistan this weekend, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed. 

Leavitt said Wednesday that the negotiating team Trump was dispatching would be led by Vance and include U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The talks are set to begin on Saturday morning local time. 

“We look forward to those in-person meetings,” Leavitt said.

Ahead of the talks in Islamabad, Leavitt said Vance has played a “very significant and a key role” in negotiations with Iran.

“Of course, he’s the president’s right-hand man,” Leavitt said. “He is the vice president of the United States. He’s been involved in all of these discussions.”

Whether Vance was attending the talks himself was previously up in the air, with the president telling the New York Post earlier Wednesday that there was a “question of safety, security.”