US Vice President JD Vance set off to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Friday to lead mediated talks with Iran amid a shaky ceasefire.
Vance said he believed negotiations were going to be "positive", but warned Iran not "to play" the United States, or talks could break down.
"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", he told reporters as he prepared to depart from the US.
"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."
While he shared an optimistic outlook with reporters, his warning cast a dark cloud on an already tenuous and temporary ceasefire, which already appears to be on the precipice of collapsing.
The Vice President will be joined by Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
While they were flying to Islamabad, the president claimed Iran had "no cards" in the negotiations, in a couple of antagonising posts on his social media platform Truth Social.
"The Iranians are better at handling the Fake News Media, and 'Public Relations,' than they are at fighting!" wrote Trump on Friday evening.
He added, "The Iranians don’t seem to realise 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!"
The rift between Iran's public demands and those from the US and its partner Israel seem irreconcilable as the IDF continues to strike Lebanon.
At least 13 members of Lebanon's State Security forces were killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Friday. Hezbollah responded to Israel's ramped up strikes by claiming an attack that targeted a naval base in the Israeli port city of Ashdod.
The strikes increase the pressure on the peace talks. Iran's parliamentary speaker claimed that negotiations couldn't begin until the mutually agreed-upon ceasefire, which they say includes Lebanon, commences.
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