Vice President JD Vance and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff spent the night in direct ceasefire negotiations involving Iran's foreign minister and Pakistan's top military commander, with Reuters reporting that Washington and Tehran are now weighing a two-stage agreement that could be announced as soon as today, Breitbart News reported.
The reported framework would start with an immediate ceasefire, followed by in-person negotiations in Pakistan within two to three weeks aimed at hammering out a broader, comprehensive peace agreement covering the Middle East. Reuters cited a single unnamed source for the claim.
If the report holds, it would mark a dramatic acceleration in a standoff that just days ago featured President Donald Trump warning Tehran that its bridges and power plants would start falling if no deal materialized by Tuesday night Eastern Time.
The overnight talks brought together an unusual quartet: Vance, Witkoff, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi, and Pakistani Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir. Pakistan's military served as the mediator, and the country is expected to host the follow-up face-to-face negotiations if the first stage holds.
Vance's direct involvement signals how far the vice president has moved into the operational center of the administration's foreign policy. It is the latest in a series of high-profile assignments that have put him at the front of White House action rather than behind it.
Aragchi, described as one of the few surviving members of Iran's pre-war government, said over the weekend that Iran's position on the talks was being "misrepresented by U.S. media" and insisted Tehran was willing to negotiate. The Iranian Foreign Ministry confirmed it received the text of a proposed ceasefire negotiated through the Pakistani Army.
Tehran's Foreign Affairs spokesman said this morning that officials had "formulated our own responses" to the ceasefire proposals. But earlier the same morning, Iran reportedly insisted it would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz as part of any temporary ceasefire, a sticking point that could complicate any announcement.
The overnight scramble came against a hard deadline set by Trump himself. Over the weekend, the president made clear that consequences would follow if a ceasefire did not come together quickly. Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Trump struck a cautiously optimistic note.
"I think there is a good chance tomorrow, they are negotiating now."
He also said the Iranian negotiators "have been granted amnesty at this time so they can continue talks", a remark that underscored the precariousness of the diplomatic channel even as it remained open.
But Trump paired that optimism with blunt warnings. He told Fox News that if Iran did not make a deal fast, he was "considering blowing everything up and taking over the oil," adding: "you're going to see bridges and power plants dropping all over their country." In a separate statement, Trump declared Tuesday would be "Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran."
The approach, maximum pressure backed by a visible willingness to escalate, is a familiar Trump playbook. And it appears to have produced movement. The fact that Aragchi sat down for overnight talks with Vance and Witkoff, with Pakistan's army chief mediating, suggests Tehran calculated that the deadline was not a bluff.
Iran's public messaging has been a careful balancing act. The regime acknowledged the talks and confirmed receiving a ceasefire proposal, but the Iranian side also issued a statement insisting its willingness to negotiate should not be mistaken for weakness.
"Iran does not hesitate to clearly express what it considers its legitimate demands and doing so should not be interpreted as a sign of compromise, but rather as a reflection of its confidence in defending its positions."
The Times of Israel reported that Tehran complained about being blackmailed or pressured into a decision. That complaint, paired with the refusal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz during a temporary ceasefire, suggests Iran wants to pocket a pause in hostilities without giving up its most significant leverage.
The Strait remains a flashpoint. Control over that waterway gives Tehran outsized influence on global energy markets, and any deal that does not address it will face skepticism from American hawks who want Iran's chokehold on shipping lanes broken for good.
Meanwhile, Breitbart reported that Majid Khademi, described as the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence organization in Iran, was killed today in a targeted Israeli strike. The timing, on the same day a ceasefire could be announced, adds another volatile element to an already fragile picture.
Last month, Israel reportedly had to be talked out of assassinating Aragchi himself. That the foreign minister is still alive and negotiating is itself a measure of how quickly the diplomatic landscape has shifted.
For Vance, the overnight session with Aragchi and Munir caps a stretch in which the vice president has become the administration's most visible figure on both domestic enforcement and international diplomacy. He has taken the lead on major DOJ announcements and served as the public face of several high-profile White House actions.
His earlier trip to Israel offered a preview of the role he now plays. During that visit, Vance said the Gaza ceasefire was going "better than I expected" while warning that Hamas would be "obliterated" if it did not cooperate, AP News reported. He also said U.S. troops recently sent to Israel would not enter Gaza, while officials began conceptualizing an international security force for the territory.
That Israel trip came as Trump envoys Witkoff and Jared Kushner worked to preserve a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire after a weekend flare-up in violence, Newsmax reported. Vance met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, and Israeli officials said he and his wife Usha would be in the country for several days.
The pattern is consistent. Whether announcing federal fraud arrests in California or sitting across from Iran's foreign minister in the middle of the night, Vance has been deployed where the stakes are highest and the cameras are watching.
The reported two-stage framework is designed to buy time. Stage one: stop shooting. Stage two: negotiate the hard stuff in person, in Pakistan, over the following weeks. The comprehensive agreement, as described, would cover the broader Middle East, a scope so wide it practically guarantees months of additional wrangling even if today's ceasefire holds.
The proposed terms reportedly include sanctions relief in exchange for Iran acknowledging that its nuclear ambitions are over. That formulation alone will draw fierce debate in Washington. Sanctions relief has been the carrot in every Iran negotiation since the Obama years, and critics will rightly ask what enforcement mechanisms prevent Tehran from pocketing the relief and resuming enrichment later.
Several major questions remain unanswered. Did Washington officially confirm the agreement under consideration? Did Tehran formally accept or reject the two-stage framework? What exact terms are in the ceasefire text Iran says it received? And who is the unnamed Reuters source on which much of this reporting rests?
The administration has shown it can move decisively when it wants to, and the overnight talks suggest the same urgency is being applied here. But urgency and durability are different things.
If a ceasefire announcement comes today, Trump will have achieved what the previous administration could not: bringing Iran to the table under genuine pressure, with a framework that at least acknowledges the nuclear question head-on. The involvement of Pakistan's military as mediator is unconventional but practical, Islamabad has channels to Tehran that Washington does not.
If it falls apart, the president has already told the world what comes next. Bridges and power plants. Tuesday night Eastern Time.
The contrast with the Biden-era approach, years of indirect talks, unfrozen assets, and a nuclear program that expanded anyway, could not be sharper. Whether Trump's method produces a lasting result or a temporary pause, the willingness to set a deadline and mean it has changed the negotiating dynamic in ways Tehran clearly noticed.
Diplomacy backed by credible consequences is not reckless. It is the only kind that has ever worked with a regime like Iran's.
