At an event in Budapest, Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump is "impatient" to achieve progress toward ending the ongoing Iran war and has directed U.S. negotiators to engage the Iranians sincerely. Vance framed the present situation as tenuous, noting that certain parts of the Iranian system seemed to be approaching talks constructively while other elements were not.
Vance described the pause in hostilities as a "fragile truce" and said the President had made his stance clear to the negotiating team. "The President of the United States has told me, and he’s told the entire negotiating team, secretary of state, the special envoy Steve Witkoff, he said, go and work in good faith to come to an agreement," Vance said.
He added that the President's impatience was aimed at making tangible progress. "He’s impatient. He’s impatient to make progress. He has told us to negotiate in good faith, and I think if they negotiate in good faith, we will be able to find a deal. But that’s a big if, and ultimately, it’s up to the Iranians how they negotiate. I hope they make the right decision," Vance said.
The United States and Iran have accepted a two-week ceasefire that was brokered by Pakistan. The agreement has the potential to halt a conflict that has lasted six weeks, resulted in thousands of deaths, spread across the Middle East and produced unprecedented disruption to the world’s energy supplies.
President Trump announced the ceasefire agreement late on Tuesday, doing so roughly two hours before a deadline he had given for Iran to reopen the blockaded Strait of Hormuz. He had warned that failure to do so could lead to the destruction of its "whole civilisation."
Vance’s remarks underline both the administration’s push for a negotiated outcome and the uncertainty surrounding how Iran’s leadership will respond. The ceasefire provides a narrow window for diplomacy, and the U.S. negotiating team has been explicitly instructed to pursue discussions in good faith while the ultimate course depends on Iranian choices.
Context limitations: The details available are confined to the statements and developments reported at the event in Budapest and the announcement of the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire. Where information is limited, the assessment remains cautious and tied to the facts provided.