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U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that Washington is prepared to escalate if talks with Iran fail, declaring, "If it doesn’t go well, we’ll reset; we’re ready to go,” according to U.S. outlet NewsNation.
Speaking in a phone interview with NewsNation, Trump said talks with Iran had begun in Islamabad and added that Tehran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz in the “not too distant future.”
The first round of talks between the United States and Iran opened in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Saturday in an effort to secure a permanent ceasefire following a two-week temporary truce between the two sides, official sources told Anadolu.
The delegations are currently holding separate meetings with Pakistani officials at a five-star hotel in Islamabad in what sources described as “patchwork” before direct talks between the U.S. and Iranian teams.
“We cannot say at the moment when the two delegations will sit face-to-face. At the moment, they are holding talks with Pakistani officials,” the sources said.
The negotiations, dubbed the “Islamabad Talks,” began after separate meetings earlier in the day between both delegations and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The U.S. and Iranian delegations arrived separately in Islamabad in one of the most significant bilateral engagements between the two countries since 1979.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance is leading the American delegation, which also includes special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Iran’s delegation is led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and includes Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and senior security official Ali Bagheri Kani.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is representing Islamabad, assisted by Army Chief Asim Munir and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, according to insiders.
Earlier Saturday, Trump said large numbers of oil tankers were heading to the United States to load crude.
“Massive numbers of completely empty oil tankers, some of the largest anywhere in the World, are heading, right now, to the United States to load up with the best and ‘sweetest’ oil (and gas!) anywhere in the World,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“We have more oil than the next two largest oil economies combined — and higher quality. We are waiting for you. Quick turnaround!” he added.
The Iran war has severely disrupted flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for global crude oil and LNG trade, triggering a global energy shock.
Pakistan is hosting the negotiations after mediating a two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire earlier this week.
The broader conflict began when the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.
Nearly 3,000 Iranians have been killed, according to Iranian health authorities, while at least 13 U.S. service members have died and dozens more have been wounded.
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