Vance Warns Tehran not to ‘Play’ the US as he Departs for Negotiations Aimed at Ending War with Iran
Vice President JD Vance is warning Tehran not to “play” the U.S. as he departs for Islamabad for negotiations aimed at ending the war with Iran.
President Donald Trump has tasked the member of his inner circle who has seemed to be the most reluctant defender of the conflict with Iran to now find a resolution to the war that began six weeks ago and stave off the U.S. president’s astonishing threat to wipe out its “whole civilization.”
Vance, who has long been skeptical of foreign military interventions and outspoken about the prospect of sending troops into open-ended conflicts, sets off Friday to lead mediated talks with Iran in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.
It comes as a tenuous, temporary ceasefire appears to be on the precipice of collapsing. The chasm between Iran’s public demands and those from the U.S. and its partner Israel seems irreconcilable.
And in the U.S., where Vance might ask voters in two years to make him the next president, there is growing political and economic pressure to wrap it up.
Gas price spike pushes up inflation by the most in 4 years in March
The largest monthly jump in gas prices in six decades caused a sharp spike in inflation in March, creating major challenges for the inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve and heightening the political challenges of rising costs for the White House.
Consumer prices rose 3.3% in March from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Friday, up sharply from just 2.4% in February. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.9% in March from February, the largest such increase in nearly four years.
Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.6% in March from a year earlier, up from 2.5% in February. But last month, core prices rose a modest 0.2%, suggesting the gas price shock hasn’t yet spread to many other categories.
The gas price shock stemming from the Iran war has shifted inflation’s trajectory from a slow, gradual decline to a sharp increase, further away from the Fed’s 2% target. As a result, the central bank will almost certainly postpone any cut in interest rates for months.
Gas prices are also a highly visible cost that has outsize impacts on consumer confidence and political sentiment.
Vance says he believes negotiations with Iran will be ‘positive’
Boarding Air Force Two on his way to Pakistan, the vice president said, “We’re looking forward to the negotiation. I think it’s gonna be positive. We’ll, of course, see.”
He cited Trump in saying, “If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand.”
But Vance also added, “If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”
Vance also said that Trump “gave us some pretty clear guidelines” on how talks should go, but didn’t elaborate.
The vice president did not take questions from reporters traveling with him.
Japan urges Israel and Hezbollah to reach a diplomatic settlement
Japan said it is deeply concerned about escalating Israeli attacks on Lebanon, urging all parties to immediately stop hostilities and comply with international law.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, in a statement Friday, expressed Japan’s “serious concern” over Israel’s ground operation against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, calling for respect for Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Source: AP news
