In notable comments online, the United Arab Emirates’ industry minister blasted the status quo around the strait. “This moment requires clarity,” wrote Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, who is also the chief executive of the state-controlled oil giant ADNOC. “Let’s be clear: the Strait of Hormuz is not open. Access is being restricted, conditioned and controlled.”
Vance, in his remarks in Hungary, vowed the war would resume unless Tehran followed through on its promise to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where around 110 ships traveled daily before the war broke out. “The president is not going to abide by our terms if the Iranians are not abiding by their terms,” he said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, hailing the two-week ceasefire as a “victory” for the U.S., said it was “completely unacceptable” if the Strait of Hormuz was indeed largely closed, though she added that the president was privately assured it would be open.
“We have seen an uptick of traffic in the strait today, and I will reiterate the president’s expectation and demand that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened immediately, quickly and safely,” Leavitt told reporters during a briefing. “That is his expectation. It has been relayed to him privately that that is what’s taking place, and these reports publicly are false.”
Mahdi Mohammadi, an adviser to the speaker of Iran’s parliament, suggested in a post on X that Israel’s continued wave of strikes in Lebanon threatened to derail the talks altogether. “Without fully restraining America’s rabid dog in Lebanon, there will be no ceasefire or negotiations, and the missiles are ready to launch,” Mohammadi said.
The exact nature of the scheduled diplomatic talks in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad were still coming into focus Thursday. Vance will be joined by Steve Witkoff, the White House’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. The makeup of the Iranian delegation was not immediately known.
Vance had been in touch with intermediaries from Pakistan about a potential deal in the last two weeks, leading to a flurry of diplomatic activity while he was overseas in Hungary on Monday and Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
Trump directed him to communicate a version of the message he had made publicly: The U.S. is open to a possible ceasefire, but only if certain U.S. demands are met, the source said.
Vance also repeatedly communicated a “stern message” that Trump was growing increasingly impatient and that there would be more pressure on Iranian infrastructure until Tehran made a deal, telling the intermediaries that Trump was going to make “crystal clear” that he was prepared to hit targets not yet struck by the U.S.
Iran’s envoy to Pakistan, for his part, said in a post on X that the regime’s delegation would arrive in Pakistan Thursday night — before deleting the post without explanation.
Ambassador Reza Amiri Moghadam said that “despite skepticism of Iranian public opinion due to repeated ceasefire violations by the Iranian regime,” the group would travel to Islamabad on the invitation of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
He did not provide further comment after deleting the post less than an hour later.
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