US Vice President J.D. Vance has announced that Washington believes “progress” has been made in talks with Iran, but it remains unclear whether that progress is in line with President Donald Trump’s “red line”.
Vance told reporters at the White House on May 13 that he had discussed Iran in the morning with Jared Kushner and Steve Whitkoff, the US president’s envoys to the peace talks, and had also been in contact with Arab officials.
“The question is whether that progress is enough to meet the president’s red line,” he said.
According to Vance, Trump’s “red line” is for the United States to ensure that the United States has “a number of safeguards in place” to ensure that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon.
Vance’s comments came after Trump earlier called Iran’s new negotiating offer “totally unacceptable.”
Iran and the United States held their first direct talks in Islamabad shortly after a two-week ceasefire was declared on 8 April. Vance and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament and Tehran’s chief negotiator, led the U.S. and Iranian delegations, respectively, to the talks.
Those talks ended inconclusively. President Trump then continued the ceasefire with Iran without announcing an expiry date. After that, on his orders, US military forces in the region began a naval blockade of Iran, which is still ongoing.