Iran’s FM heads to Pakistan amid talk revival hopes

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was expected in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Friday to discuss proposals for restarting peace talks with the United States, but Pakistani sources said he was not due to meet U.S. negotiators there.

U.S. President Donald Trump plans to send special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to talks with Araqchi in Islamabad, and the pair will depart on Saturday morning, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

The U.S. has seen some progress from the Iranian side in recent days and hopes more will be made in weekend talks, Leavitt said.

She added that U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who earlier this month led a first round of unsuccessful talks with Iran to end their war, is ready to travel to Pakistan to join the negotiations if they prove successful.

Islamabad was the venue for the U.S.-Iran talks that collapsed earlier this week.

Araqchi wrote on X that he was visiting Pakistan, Oman and Russia to coordinate 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 a brief one to discuss Iran's proposals for talks with the U.S., which mediator Pakistan would then convey to Washington.

U.S. 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 U.S. logistics and security team was already 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 U.S. 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.