{"id":203318,"date":"2026-04-20T13:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T13:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/203318\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T13:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T13:56:09","slug":"jd-vance-us-delegation-to-land-in-islamabad-within-hours-as-trump-tells-the-post-nobodys-playing-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/203318\/","title":{"rendered":"JD Vance, US delegation to land in Islamabad within hours as Trump tells The Post: &#8216;Nobody\u2019s playing games&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD \u2014 President Trump dismissed Iran\u2019s claims that it will not participate in the latest round of peace negotiations in Pakistan, as he told The Post he\u2019d be willing to meet with senior Iranian leaders if a breakthrough is reached.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re supposed to have the talks,\u201d Trump said in a brief interview, brushing aside doubts about whether negotiations would fall apart. \u201cSo I would assume at this point nobody\u2019s playing games.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The president on Monday morning confirmed that Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner have left the US for Islamabad to prepare for the meetings.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39139373\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/u-s-vice-president-jd-125421828.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. Vice President JD Vance walks with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff after arriving in Islamabad, Pakistan.\" class=\"wp-image-39139373\"  \/>U.S. Vice President JD Vance walks as Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, U.S. Special Envoy for Peace Missions, look on after arriving for talks with Iranian officials in Islamabad, Pakistan. via REUTERS<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re heading over now,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThey\u2019ll be there tonight, [Islamabad] time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The timeline underscores the urgency surrounding the talks, which come days ahead of the expiration of the US-Iran cease-fire amid escalating tensions in the region.<\/p>\n<p>Trump signaled openness to a dramatic diplomatic step: meeting directly with Iranian leadership if the opportunity arises.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have no problem meeting them,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they want to meet, and we have some very capable people, but I have no problem meeting them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the heart of the negotiations, Trump said, is one non-negotiable demand: Iran must abandon any pursuit of nuclear weapons.<br \/>\u201cGet rid of their nuclear weapons. That\u2019s all very simple,\u201d he said. \u201cThere will be no nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39139379\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-ahead-anticipated-us-iran-126022204_660c19.jpg\" alt=\"Security personnel stand guard near banners for the &quot;Islamabad Talks&quot; with flags of the US, Pakistan, and Iran.\" class=\"wp-image-39139379\"  \/>\u201cSo I would assume at this point nobody\u2019s playing games,\u201d Trump told The Post about the peace talks. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>He added that Iran has the potential to thrive if it complies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOtherwise, a wonderful country \u2014 it truly could be,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n<p>But the president declined to spell out what consequences Tehran could face if it refuses to comply or if talks collapse \u2014 particularly as the ceasefire deadline looms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, I don\u2019t want to get into that with you,\u201d he said when asked whether the US would escalate measures, such as seizing additional ships tied to Iran. \u201cYou can imagine. It wouldn\u2019t be pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ISLAMABAD \u2014 President Trump dismissed Iran\u2019s claims that it will not participate in the latest round of peace&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[153,14670,11749,9,11,10,62206,28479,27670,87,58,1076],"class_list":{"0":"post-203318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-iran","10":"tag-jd-vance","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-operation-epic-fury","15":"tag-pakistan","16":"tag-peace-talks","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-us-news","19":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}