A member of Pakistani security personnel looks at a checkpoint from a police booth amid tight security ahead of a possible meeting between US and Iranian officials in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 20, 2026.
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Rebecca Conway/Getty Images
Vice President Vance is expected to travel to Islamabad soon to lead the US delegation for a second round of peace talks with Iran before the two-week ceasefire expires on Wednesday.
But the prospects for renewed diplomacy remain unclear. Iranian state media said on Tuesday that no Iranian delegation has visited Islamabad “yet” under President Trump. told Bloomberg News It said on Monday that renewal of the ceasefire was “highly unlikely”.
Iran’s chief negotiator and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf late Monday accused the United States of trying to force Iran to the negotiating table and said so On the contrary, Iran is preparing to “reveal new cards on the battlefield.”
“We do not accept talks under the shadow of threats,” Qalibaf wrote in a post on social media.
Representatives from more than a dozen foreign diplomatic missions, United Nations offices and media view damage at sites targeted by the first US-Israeli strikes in Tehran, Iran, on April 20, 2026.
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Majid Saidi/Getty Images Europe
Officials in Islamabad say the city is ready to host talks, although the Pakistani government has given no formal indication about the status of its ongoing mediation efforts.
The first round of talks held in Islamabad a week ago ended without any agreement. Vance later accused Iran of refusing to accept Washington’s conditions on Iran’s plans for nuclear enrichment.
The current ceasefire is set to expire on Wednesday evening Eastern Time, here are the main sticking points:
What is America asking Iran to do?
For officials in Washington, the main points of contention are control over the Strait of Hormuz and the future of Iran’s nuclear program.
The Trump administration has said it wants commercial shipping through the strategic waterway to be fully restored. About 20% of the world’s crude oil and natural gas passes through this narrow strait.
Since the start of the war on February 28, Iran’s main advantage over the US has been its control over the strait, including the collection of tolls from commercial vessels passing through it as a condition for reopening the waterway.
“It benefits the weaker side by entering the negotiation process,” Mark Freeman, executive director of the Institute for Integrated Transition, a Spain-based peace and security think tank, told NPR.
Iran’s occupation of the Strait of Hormuz has shaken global markets. increasing the national average Gas prices above $4 a gallon.
The other big demand coming from Washington focuses on Iran’s nuclear program – and whether Tehran will accept limits on nuclear enrichment.
In an interview with The John Fredericks Show on Monday, President Trump said Iran would return to talks, but insisted that Tehran “will not have a nuclear weapon.”
“They’re going to negotiate,” Trump said. “And if they don’t, they’re going to see problems like they’ve never seen before.”
A commercial ship is seen off the coast of Dubai on April 20, 2026.
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Trump has consistently said that a main purpose of the war with Iran is to ensure that it never has a nuclear weapon. In his first interview after the fighting began, he said he believed Iran would “strike first” if the United States did not act. Trump did not cite intelligence to support that claim.
Vice President Vance said the first round of ceasefire talks a week ago broke down because Iran would not commit to giving up its nuclear weapons.
Vance said, “The simple fact is that we need to see a positive commitment that they will not seek nuclear weapons, and they will not seek equipment that would enable them to quickly acquire nuclear weapons.”
Lebanon and ending the blockade remain major demands for Iran
For Tehran, key demands for extending the ceasefire include ending the US blockade of Iranian ports and guaranteeing that fighting between Israel and Hezbollah will not resume.
Israel and Lebanon Entered into a 10-day ceasefire last week, Fighting between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah has stopped. That ceasefire still stands.
Mourners carry flag-draped coffins of members of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah who were killed in southern Lebanon during their funerals in the Kaffat area in the southern suburbs of Beirut on April 20, 2026.
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Iran had previously refused to engage in further negotiations with the United States unless Israel ceased its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.
However, Israel has vowed to keep its troops in southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah said the Lebanese people retain the “right to resist” Israeli forces in the country.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah broke out shortly after the war with Iran began on 28 February, with Hezbollah firing rockets at northern Israel in a show of solidarity with Tehran. Israeli forces responded with airstrikes and an invasion of southern Lebanon in an attempt to create a “buffer zone” to divert Hezbollah fire from Israeli border communities.
Israel’s attacks have killed more than 2,100 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million, according to Lebanese officials. According to Israeli officials, at least 12 Israeli soldiers and two civilians have been killed in Hezbollah attacks.
As far as the US blockade of Iranian ports is concerned, Iran has made clear that it views the blockade as a prerequisite for further diplomacy.
After the first round of ceasefire talks in Islamabad ended without an agreement, the US military blockaded Iranian shipping ports to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as well as put economic pressure on Iran to end the war. The US Navy says it has forced 27 ships to turn back since the blockade began.
Iran responded by closing the Strait of Hormuz for a second time, less than a day after reopening the key shipping route.
Iranian officials have also indicated that they want financial relief, including access to $6 billion of frozen assets, and do not want to negotiate as long as Washington maintains military and economic pressure.
Rebecca Roseman contributed to this report from London.
