Donald Trump extended his best wishes to JD Vance as the Vice President embarked on a mission to Islamabad aimed at facilitating peace discussions between the United States and Iran.

The President made these remarks while Vance, accompanied by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, departed on Friday. Their goal is to negotiate a lasting resolution to the conflict that erupted on February 28.

“I wished him luck. He’s got a significant task. We’ll soon discover the developments. They are militarily defeated,” Trump commented as he prepared to board Air Force One on Friday.

In addition, Trump declared he would not permit Iran to levy tolls on the Strait of Hormuz.

“It’s international waters. If they’re imposing tolls, which remains uncertain, we won’t allow it,” he asserted.

Trump further mentioned that the Strait would “become accessible automatically,” despite the limited traffic that has managed to navigate this crucial trade passage since the temporary ceasefire earlier in the week.

‘The strait will open up. If we just left the strait, otherwise they make no money. So the strait is going to open,’ Trump said. He added that the US doesn’t use the Strait, so ‘other countries’ will ‘help out.’

‘It won’t be easy. It won’t be, I would say this, we will have that open fairly soon,’ the president said.

Donald Trump wished JD Vance good luck as the Vice President headed for Islamabad to begin peace talks between the United States and Iran

The President spoke as Vance flew out Friday alongside special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to attempt to find a permanent end to the war began on February 28

He insisted that he doesn’t ‘need a backup plan’ and asserted that his administration would ‘open up the Gulf with or without them,’ referring to the Iranians, who have effectively shuttered the critical waterway.

The Athens-based Marine Traffic said on Friday that only 14 vessels, half of which were laden, have crossed the Strait of Hormuz since a ceasefire was declared on April 8, according to a statement on X.

Vessels exiting the Persian Gulf accounted for 70 percent of all crossings.

‘Sanctioned or shadow-fleet-linked vessels accounted for nearly two-thirds of all crossings,’ added the statement.

Before the conflict, over 100 ships passed through the Strait each day — many carrying oil to Asia.

The President expressed optimism in the three men he’d sent to Islamabad to try and end the conflict.  

‘We’ll see how it turns out. So it’s JD and Steve and Jared. We have a good team, and they meet tomorrow. We’ll see how it all works out.’

Trump also noted that these talks would be tense but he believes his men will get the job done.  

‘It won’t be easy. It won’t be, I would say this, we will have that open fairly soon,’ he said. 

A man rides his motorbike past a billboard installed alongside a road as Pakistan prepares to host the talks

Speaking shortly before his departure to Pakistan from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Vance said of Iran: ‘If they’re gonna try to play us they’re gonna find the negotiating team is not going to be that receptive.

‘The president gave us some pretty clear guidelines.’

Vance, who has long been skeptical of foreign military interventions and outspoken about the prospect of sending troops into open-ended conflicts, set off Friday to lead mediated talks with Iran in the Pakistani capital.

‘If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand,’ Vance told reporters before boarding Air Force Two to make his way to the talks.

But he added, ‘If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.’ 

Vance’s trip 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 US and its partner Israel seems irreconcilable. 

And in the US, where Vance might ask voters in two years’ time to make him the next president, there is growing political and economic pressure to wrap it up.

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf is among the negotiation delegation

Smoke rises from an explosion in the Abbasiyeh neighbourhood following an Israeli strike, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 8, 2026

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said in a social media post that a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel is targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, and the release of blocked Iranian assets ‘must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.’ He did not elaborate further.

Qalibaf and other senior Iranian officials arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan, later on Friday ahead of Vance. 

The Iranian delegation for the talks, which is slated to begin Saturday, also includes Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Ali Akbar Ahmadian, secretary of the Supreme National Defense Council, Central Bank Governor Abdolnasser Hemmati, and several lawmakers. They were received at the airport by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and other senior Pakistani government officials.