President Donald Trump is set to hold peace talks with Iranian officials in Pakistan—but he’s leaving out a key member of his negotiating team.
Trump, 79, told the New York Post on Wednesday that Vice President JD Vance won’t be joining him for the negotiations in Islamabad, which could happen as early as Friday, as Washington and Tehran attempt to put an end to nearly 40 days of war.
“We’ll have Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, JD—maybe JD, I don’t know. There’s a question of safety, security,” Trump told the outlet, adding that the talks would take place “very soon, actually—it’s going to take place very soon.”
Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East, and Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, have long been the president’s top peace negotiators. Earlier this week, however, Politico reported that Vance was also on standby for any sensitive talks with Iran.
Trump made the remark about Vance just a day after The New York Times reported that the 40-year-old vice president was the biggest skeptic of the Iran war within the highest levels of the administration.
Vance, who had built himself up as an anti-interventionist before joining the Trump administration, warned that a regime change war in Iran would be disastrous, triggering regional chaos and claiming lives while potentially fracturing the MAGA base.
The vice president described the war as “a huge distraction of resources” and “massively expensive,” but when it appeared clear that his boss was determined to do it anyway, Vance argued that Trump should attack with overwhelming force to achieve his objectives more quickly, according to The Times.
“You know I think this is a bad idea, but if you want to do it, I’ll support you,” he was quoted as telling Trump.
On Tuesday, Vance found himself in an awkward position when he bragged about phoning Trump while he was onstage in Budapest, Hungary—only to get an error message from an operator.
“I actually had a special guest that asked that I give him a phone call,” Vance told the crowd. “Let’s see. Let’s hope he actually answers, or this is going to be very embarrassing.”
But it was an operator’s voice that came through: “I’m sorry, the person you were trying to reach has a voicemail box that has not been set up yet.”
Vance did manage to get Trump on the phone on his second try. The president picked up and said, “Hi JD, could you give me a second? I’m just… uh,” before realizing he was on speakerphone in front of a roaring crowd.
Trump eventually sang the praises of Viktor Orbán, the far-right Hungarian prime minister whom Vance was deployed to help re-elect.
“I’ll tell you, he’s a fantastic man,” Trump said of Orbán. “We’ve had a tremendous relationship, and he does a great job. Remember this: he didn’t allow people to storm your country and invade your country like other people have, and ruin their countries.”
