TEL AVIV, March 23. /TASS/. A meeting between US and Iranian representatives may take place late this week in the Pakistani capital city of Islamabad, the N12 television channel said, citing an Israeli official.

According to the official, Washington is looking at appointing Vice President JD Vance the United States’ chief negotiator at the potential talks. Apart from that, a source close to the talks told N12 that a phone call between Washington and Tehran, which "will be crucial for further negotiations," is scheduled for March 23.

The TV channel reported earlier, citing a senior Israeli official, that Washington is in touch with Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. According to the source, Israel was aware that several countries were making mediatory efforts to organize talks between Iran and the United States, but the Israeli side was surprised to hear US President Donald Trump saying that these contacts are yielding progress.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform earlier that in recent days, Washington and Tehran had "very good and productive conversations" on ending the hostilities in the Middle East. He also announced that he had instructed the Pentagon to postpone strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure facilities for five days. Apart from that, the US leader told journalists that both the United States and Iran want to make a deal and have "major points of agreement."

Meanwhile the Iranian news agency Tasnim said, citing a source, that Tehran has not held and is not holding talks with Washington. According to the agency, the US leader decided not to strike Iranian infrastructure because "Iran's military threats have become more convincing.".