Vance departs for Iran talks as Israel-Lebanon track opens

Vice President JD Vance said Friday that he expects “positive” negotiations with Iran as he departed for Pakistan, where he will lead a US delegation in talks on Saturday, while warning Tehran not to “play us.”

"If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand," he added.

However, in a sign of the ceasefire's fragility, President Donald Trump warned Iran against charging fees to tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz. “They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now,” he said on Thursday night. The Wall Street Journal reports, citing shipping operators, that Iran has charged up to $2 million per supertanker transiting the strait.

Meanwhile, direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are set to begin next week in Washington, US and Israeli officials said, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu first announced the talks.

A senior Lebanese official told Al-Monitor on Thursday that the Lebanese government has requested that talks and a ceasefire be announced simultaneously, "similar to the Pakistani model."

Asharq News reported that there will be an initial phone call on Friday between Lebanese Ambassador to Washington Nada Hamadeh Mouawad, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter, US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa and the director of policy planning at the US State Department, Mike Needham.

The Israeli military continued strikes on south Lebanon on Friday, including one in Jbaa that killed six people.