Vice President JD Vance said on Friday he was looking forward to having positive negotiations with Iran as he left for talks in Pakistan with a warning to Tehran not to "play us."
"We're looking forward to the negotiation. I think it's going to be positive," Vance told reporters before leaving Washington.
"As the president of the United States said, if the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we're certainly willing to extend the open hand," Vance said. "If they're going to try to play us, then they're going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive."
Vance also said that Trump “gave us some pretty clear guidelines” on how talks should go, but he didn’t elaborate. He did not take questions from reporters traveling with him.
Vance is joined by Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who took part in three rounds of indirect talks with Iranian negotiators aimed at settling U.S. concerns about Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic weapons programs and its support for terrorist groups in the Middle East before Trump and Israel launched the Feb. 28 war against Iran.
The White House has provided scant detail about the format of the talks—whether they will be direct or indirect—and has not provided specific expectations for the meeting.