Iran's state-run news agencies have fiercely disputed international media claims that key officials, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, flew to Pakistan to negotiate with the US, according to Press TV.
This is what the Iranian media reported.
Referring to Tasnim News Agency, which quoted a well-informed source on Thursday night, Press TV said that neither Araghchi nor Ghalibaf have left the country and they continue to remain in Tehran, actively carrying out their national duties amid regional developments.Tasnim News denied the Wall Street Journal's story that senior officials were travelling to Islamabad for talks with Washington. According to Tasnim News, the negotiations would be put on hold until Israeli attacks in Lebanon halt and the US fulfils its commitment to a ceasefire in the nation.
The source said to Tasnim, "The news from some media outlets that an Iranian negotiating team has arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan, to negotiate with the Americans is completely false."
According to Press TV, Iran's Fars News Agency also firmly dismissed the Wall Street Journal report, stating that Iran has "no plans to attend peace talks with the American side until a ceasefire is established in Lebanon".Dawn claimed that 10,000 police and security personnel have been deployed in Pakistan's capital, putting the city on high alert.
JD Vance, who has traditionally criticised foreign military interventions and questioned open-ended army deployments, is scheduled to visit Islamabad on Friday to lead mediated talks with Iran, according to the Associated Press.
The visit comes as a fragile, temporary ceasefire looks to be on the verge of collapse, with key disagreements between Iran's demands and those of the US and its ally Israel still unaddressed.
Meanwhile, political and economic pressure is increasing in the United States to resolve the crisis quickly, particularly since Vance may run for president in the coming years.

Shortly after the White House and Iran established a temporary ceasefire on Tuesday evening, differences over its conditions arose.
Iran said that the truce includes a stop to Israel's military operations in Lebanon. However, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump confirmed that the cease-fire did not apply to Lebanon, and Israeli attacks there continued.
At the same time, the US pressured Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran had closed in reaction to intensifying Israeli strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to the Associated Press.
The White House has not specified who will be present in the conversations in addition to Vance, Witkoff, and Kushner, but Kelly stated that officials from the National Security Council, State Department, and Pentagon "will also play a supportive role".