US Vice President JD Vance is expected to leave for Islamabad by Tuesday morning to hold talks with Iran on a possible deal to end the war, Axios reported.
Vance will arrive in Pakistan as the ceasefire is about to expire – usually around midnight on April 21. There is no agreement on extending it, and it is even more unclear whether Iran will participate in the talks.
Trump's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are also expected to travel to Islamabad for talks.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has threatened to launch a new air campaign against Iranian bridges and power plants if a deal is not reached.
He says he won't rush to sign a bad deal, but he hasn't completely ruled out extending it, even by a few hours. In fact, as Axios adds, Trump has already effectively added a day, saying on Monday that the deadline was Wednesday night.
The White House, Axios also reported, had been waiting all Monday for a signal from Tehran that it would send the negotiating team to Islamabad.
However, a source with knowledge of the matter said the Iranians were delaying due to pressure from the Revolutionary Guard on negotiators to take a tougher stance on the position that there are no talks without ending the US blockade.
For its part, the Iranian team was waiting for the green light from the supreme leader, which came on Monday evening.
The political leadership in Tehran is sending its own messages.
Iran will not negotiate under the shadow of threats, said the speaker of Iran's parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. In a post at midnight on Monday, he wrote:
"Trump, by imposing a siege and violating the ceasefire, seeks to turn this negotiating table – in his imagination – into a surrender table or to justify the repetition of his warmongering actions.
"We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats and in the last two weeks we have been prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield."
Earlier on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar that the US's "continued ceasefire violations" constitute a major obstacle to continuing the diplomatic process, according to a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry in Tehran.
