ISLAMABAD, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The United States, Pakistan, and Iran on Saturday held a face-to-face trilateral meeting in Islamabad, according to Pakistani sources.
Meanwhile, media reports citing the White House said that U.S. Vice President JD Vance, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were in the meeting.
Some reports said that the meeting was also attended by Pakistani Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir, and the Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
The Pakistani sources said that the meeting lasted about two hours.
U.S. and Iranian negotiating teams arrived here on Saturday for talks to end their recent hostilities in the Middle East region.
The talks have entered detailed and technical discussions on certain issues and might be extended by another day "to allow for continued expert-level discussions," according to sources and media reports.
Sources said that the first round of talks involving bilateral experts concluded, and another round of U.S.-Iran talks started at around 8:30 local time on Saturday.
The second round of talks, likely to be result-oriented, also took place at the expert level with technical teams involved, according to the sources.
Earlier in the day, the U.S. and Iranian negotiators began their engagement shortly after their arrival in Islamabad, with their messages conveyed to each other in various ways.
The talks started Saturday afternoon, according to media reports. Earlier, the two sides met separately with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who continued to relay messages to both sides in efforts to reach a peaceful solution for the Middle East crisis.
The Iranian negotiation team discussed the preconditions of the talks with Sharif ahead of their talks with U.S. counterparts, according to Pakistani sources.
Issues related to the Strait of Hormuz, the unfreezing of Iranian assets and accounts, payment for reconstruction, immediate stop of the attacks, including in Lebanon, and permission for civilian nuclear energy use are among the preconditions the Iranian side discussed, according to Pakistani sources.
When meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Sharif commended the commitment of both delegations to engage constructively, and expressed the hope that these talks would serve as a stepping stone toward durable peace in the region.
Sharif reiterated that Pakistan looks forward to continuing its facilitation of both sides in making progress towards sustainable peace in the region.
Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan said in a social post that it remains to be seen whether the U.S. honors the mediation efforts of the host.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he did not care whether the talks with Iran in Islamabad would go well or not, as he threatened to continue military action, according to media reports.
In the backdrop of the important talks, security measures in Pakistan's federal capital, Islamabad, remain tightened, with limited public entry to the venue.
The Jinnah Convention Center in Islamabad is buzzing with local and foreign journalists as they work around the clock to cover the historic U.S.-Iran peace talks.■
