The United States and Iran are set to hold negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday (April 11) local time. Before the talks, U.S. President Trump warned Iran that American warships are being loaded with the best weapons and ammunition, and if the negotiations fail, the U.S. military will resume military operations.
This marks the first negotiation between the U.S. and Iran after the agreed ceasefire on April 7. After nearly 40 days of intense fighting, the world is watching anxiously to see the outcome of these negotiations.
President Trump took to his social media platform, “Truth Social,” on Friday (April 10), stating, “The Iranian side seems unaware that they have no cards left to play except for short-term extortion through international waters. The only reason they are still alive today is for negotiations!”
In an interview with the New York Post on Friday, Trump warned that if Iran fails to reach an agreement, the U.S. will increase its military strikes.
“We are loading the best ammunition and weapons ever used, even more advanced than what we have used before, and we have already defeated them easily,” he said. “If we can’t reach an agreement, we will use them, and we will use them very effectively,” the President added.
As Trump issued warnings to Iran, the U.S. Central Command responsible for military operations showcased its deterrence power on social media platform X.
The Central Command released three photos, stating that a U.S. Marine Corps F-35B “Lightning II” fighter jet took off from the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli. The F-35B aircraft can take off and land vertically on decks less than 850 feet long, like that of USS Tripoli, which is currently sailing in the Central Command’s area of responsibility.
Vice President Pence boarded Air Force Two on Friday heading to Islamabad for the negotiations with Iran. The U.S. delegation is led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Iran is expected to send Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf to the talks. Iran has yet to announce if representatives from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will also attend. Foreign Minister Araghchi had insisted during pre-war negotiations that Iran has an inalienable right to uranium enrichment, which was a key reason for the failure of previous talks between the U.S. and Iran.
Trump told the New York Post on Friday that the U.S. is dealing with “a group of people we don’t know if they will tell the truth.”
“They tell us to our face they are giving up all nuclear weapons, everything will disappear. Then, they go to the media and say, ‘No, we want uranium enrichment.’ So, let’s wait and see,” Trump said.
When asked about the prospects of success in these negotiations, the President said, “We will know the results in about 24 hours. We will find out very soon.”
The U.S.-Iran negotiations are expected to focus on the U.S. demand for Iran to surrender approximately 1,000 pounds of buried enriched uranium and to reopen the Hormuz Strait for international shipping. The U.S. is also expected to request that Iran stop supporting regional proxies and limit its ballistic missile program. Iran, on the other hand, is likely to bring up issues such as the lifting of sanctions.