The United States and Iran are holding in-person talks in Pakistan to end their six-week-old war, days after agreeing to a fragile ceasefire.
Talks between the two sides began in Islamabad on Saturday afternoon, following separate meetings by each side with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The US delegation is being led by US Vice President JD Vance and includes special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Iran’s 70-strong delegation is being led by parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqir Ghalib and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.
Al Jazeera’s Abid Hussain, reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan, said the talks were initially intended to be “close talks,” but “our sources close to the talks say both teams are 1775919382 directly involved in the talks, with Pakistani mediators also in the room.
Vance and Ghalibaf met with Pakistan’s Sharif earlier on Saturday, with Sharif’s office saying Islamabad looked forward to continuing its facilitation of both sides.
“The prime minister expressed hope that these talks would serve as a step towards lasting peace in the region,” Sharif’s office said in a statement.
The talks went ahead despite Tehran’s earlier claims that they would not take place without Lebanon’s participation in the ceasefire and promises of U.S. sanctions.
Earlier, Ghalibaf wrote on X that Washington had previously agreed to unfreeze Iranian assets and a ceasefire in Lebanon, where nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters since the fighting began in March.