Vance May Be Heading Back to Pakistan

It looks like the first round of talks did indeed yield some goodwill: Both Reuters and the AP are reporting that US and Iranian negotiators may return to Pakistan for round two, perhaps at the end of this week. Neither the White House nor Tehran has confirmed, but some optimism surfaced on Monday. President Trump said "we've been called by the other side" and "they want to work a deal," and Vice President JD Vance said the first round he led "did make some progress." One Iranian official said negotiators were keeping Friday through Sunday open.

One new aspect of the deal that surfaced publicly on Monday: The US is pushing for a 20-year suspension of all nuclear activity by Iran, while Tehran is floating a five-year moratorium. The New York Times frames that as the "central dispute" of the talks, more so than control of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's support of proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. The plan for talks comes a day after the US imposed its own blockade of the strait. The markets, meanwhile, seem hopeful: Stock futures were up modestly Tuesday morning after rising on Monday, per CNBC.