On Saturday (11), senior US and Iranian officials met in Islamabad, Pakistan, for talks aimed at ending their six-week-long conflict. However, Tehran cast doubt on the discussions, stating they could not proceed without commitments regarding Lebanon and sanctions.

The US delegation, led by vice president JD Vance and including president Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, landed in two US Air Force planes at an air base in Islamabad on Saturday morning, where they were received by Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and foreign minister Ishaq Dar, The Caspian Post reports, citing foreign media.

The Iranian delegation, led by parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and foreign minister Abbas Araqchi, arrived on Friday (10).

These will be the highest-level US-Iran talks since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. If the two sides hold face-to-face negotiations as expected, they would be first direct talks since 2015, when they reached a deal on Iran's nuclear programme.

Trump scrapped the nuclear deal in 2018 during his first term in office. That year, Iran's then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - who was killed at the start of the war six weeks ago - banned further direct talks between US and Iranian officials.

Qalibaf said on X that Washington had previously agreed to unblock Iranian assets and to a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israeli attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants have killed nearly 2,000 people since the start of the fighting in March. He said talks would not start until those pledges were fulfilled.

Israel and the US have said the Lebanon campaign is not part of the Iran-US ceasefire.

Iran's state broadcaster said the Iranian delegation would meet Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif around noon (0700 GMT) to determine the timing and manner of "possible negotiations".

A senior Iranian source told Reuters that Pakistan would deliver an initial US response to Iran's demands and that if Tehran accepted, then direct talks between the two sides would start.

The White House did not immediately comment on the Iranian demands, but Trump posted on social media that the only reason the Iranians were alive was to negotiate a deal.

"The Iranians don't seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!" he said.

Vance, speaking as he headed to Pakistan, said he expected a positive outcome but added: "If they're going to try to play us, then they're going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive."

Preliminary discussions have been separately held by Pakistani officials with advance teams from both sides, sources in Islamabad said.

Pakistan's Dar said he hoped the US and Iran would engage in constructive talks to reach a "lasting and durable solution to the conflict", according to a statement from Pakistan's foreign ministry.

A Pakistani source said it was too early to say whether talks would end on Saturday, adding there was no time limit for negotiations.