* US negotiators Witkoff and Kushner depart for Islamabad today
* Iranian FM Araqchi and delegation land in Pakistan capital
* US Vice-President JD Vance to join talks if there's breakthrough
US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner will travel to Islamabad today for talks with Iran mediated by Pakistan, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said yesterday. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Leavitt said the Trump administration has seen "some progress" from the Iranian side in the last couple of days, without elaborating.
"Steve and Jared will be heading to Pakistan tomorrow to hear the Iranians out. We hope progress will be made and we hope that positive developments will come from this meeting," she told reporters yesterday. Leavitt said Vice President JD Vance, who led a first round of unsuccessful talks with Iran in Islamabad earlier this month, is ready to travel to Pakistan to join talks if they prove successful. "The president, the vice-president, the secretary of state, will be waiting here in the United States for updates and the vice-president, I understand, is on standby and will be willing to dispatch to Pakistan if we feel it's a necessary use of his time," Leavitt said.
In the meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi arrived in the Pakistani capital Islamabad late on Friday to discuss proposals for restarting peace talks with the United States, amid conflicting signals on whether he would meet with US negotiators there.
Pakistan's foreign minister said Araqchi would meet with senior Pakistani officials to discuss the peace efforts. Araqchi wrote on X that he was visiting Pakistan, Oman and Russia to co-ordinate with partners on bilateral matters and consult on regional developments, adding that Iran's neighbours remained Tehran's priority. The tour will include consultations on the latest efforts to end the war, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson later told state media.
Two Pakistani government sources aware of the discussions said Araqchi's visit would be brief and focus on Iran's proposals for talks with the US, which mediator Pakistan would then convey to Washington. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a briefing earlier on Friday that Iran had a chance to make a "good deal" with the United States.
"Iran knows that they still have an open window to choose wisely ... at the negotiating table. All they have to do is abandon a nuclear weapon in meaningful and verifiable ways," he said.
Reports on Araqchi's trip in Iranian state media and the Pakistani sources made no mention of Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran's parliament, who was the head of its delegation at the talks earlier this month.
The Iranian parliament's media office denied a report that Qalibaf had resigned as head of Iran's negotiating team, and added that there was no new round of talks scheduled yet.
Pakistani sources said earlier that a US logistics and security team already was in place in Islamabad for potential talks.
The last round of peace talks had been expected to resume on Tuesday but never took place, with Iran saying it was not yet ready to commit to attending and a US delegation led by Vance never leaving Washington. Trump unilaterally extended a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday at the 11th hour to allow more time to reconvene the negotiators.