Welcome to meet the press now.

I'm Kristen Welker in Washington, where the Trump administration is heading into a high-stakes

diplomatic test with Vice President J.D. Vance on his way to Pakistan right now for peace

talks with Iran. Those are expected to begin tomorrow. But the situation is volatile with both

the U.S. and Iran accusing each other of violating a ceasefire agreement that was supposed to pave

the way for these negotiations. This morning, Vice President Vance left Washington, heading to Islamabad, where he will lead

the U.S. delegation alongside special envoy Steve Whitkoff and the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

The vice president spoke briefly to reporters delivering a warning to Iran.

Look, we're looking forward to the negotiation. I think it's going to be positive. We'll foresee, as the President of the United States said, if the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we're certainly willing to extend the open hand. If they're going to try to play us, then they're going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive. So we're going to try to have a positive

negotiation. The president has gave us some pretty clear guidelines. And we're going to see.

Ahead of the talks, President Trump is clearly trying to ramp up pressure on the Iranians

and threatening renewed military action if the talks fail. The president posting on social media,

Iran is doing a very poor job of reopening

the strait of Hormuz, which he claims Tehran promised to do. Also telling Iran, it has, quote,

no cards and saying the only reason they are alive today is to negotiate. In an interview with the New York

Post, the president also saying, the military is, quote, loading up the interview with the New York Post, the president also saying the military is,

quote, loading up the ships with the best weapons ever made. And if there is no deal, quote,

we will be using those weapons. Tehran, meanwhile, is hitting back. Iran's speaker of the parliament

who is leading the Iranian delegation to the peace talk, saying there will be no negotiations

unless there is a ceasefire between Israel and the Iranian-backed proxy Hezbollah and Lebanon,

along with the release of Iranian assets frozen by sanctions. But these were the images out of

southern Lebanon today, another major explosion as Israel continues its heavy bombardment

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