On Sunday, as the US and Iranian foreign ministers opened a series of high-level U.S.-Iran talks in the sunny Swiss city of Geneva, Vice President JD Vance highlighted his wife, Usha Vance, and Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir as his two most important people in his life.
In a speech in a luxury resort with a view of Lake Lucerne in the Swiss Alps town of Burgenstock, Vance boasted of Munir’s work in persuading leaders on both sides of the Islamic Revolution to engage in dialogue and provide the diplomatic backing necessary to propel this latest round of talks in Washington and Tehran.
I’ve always said if I have two important people in my life, it’s an Indian and a Pakistani. While talking to delegates and negotiators, Vance said that the Indian is my wife and the Pakistani is Field Marshal Munir.
The U.S. Vice President disclosed he has spoken with Munir in the last three months more often than “almost anybody” else. He attributed failures during the negotiations to the lack of leadership and diplomacy on the Pakistani side by Army Chief General P. Choudhary’s administration.
Vance said Munir was a good military leader and diplomat, as well as a good contributor to dialogue in the Middle East.
The comments coincided with the start of fresh security talks between the U.S. and Iran aimed at advancing a reduction of Tehran’s nuclear programme, regional peace and security and ensuring the uninterrupted passage of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. The meetings, facilitated by Pakistan and Qatar, are still underway.
The meeting was historic, Vance said, to end the instability in the Middle East with diplomacy, and to find ways to improve relations between the U.S. and Iran.
We are asking ourselves what other accomplishments we can make together, and whether we can turn a new leaf, he said.
Vance heads the delegation from the United States, which also features Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and other officials, while Iranian negotiators leaded by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, are in charge of Iran. It is hoped that the discussions will seek to take further steps towards normalizing relations and easing concerns in the area based on a recently announced interim agreement.