US Vice President JD Vance will lead a second American negotiating team to Islamabad on Monday for talks on ending the Iran crisis, even as President Donald Trump issued a fresh threat to destroy Iranian power plants and bridges if no agreement is reached.
A White House official told the BBC that Vance will travel to Pakistan with presidential advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. It remains unclear whether Iran will send representatives, or who would make up any Iranian delegation to the Pakistani capital.
In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump accused Iran of violating the ceasefire by firing on vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz, including ships linked to France and the United Kingdom. The claims have not been independently verified and Iranian authorities have not responded. Trump warned that failure to accept a proposed deal would trigger significant military action targeting key infrastructure across Iran.
Trump also claimed Iran’s move to close the Strait of Hormuz would ultimately hurt its own economy, estimating losses of hundreds of millions of dollars per day, while insisting the United States would not be adversely affected.
The BBC reported that Trump’s threat to blow up Iranian electricity plants and bridges could amount to threatening war crimes under international treaties and conventions on the laws of war, citing Luis Moreno Ocampo, the founding chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Civilian infrastructure is protected under the Geneva Conventions.
The second round of Islamabad talks follows the inconclusive first round earlier this month, which collapsed without agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme. The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global oil passes, remains the focal point of the standoff, with direct consequences for Sri Lanka’s fuel supply chain.
