WASHINGTON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Friday left Washington for Islamabad, Pakistan, warning Iran not to "play" the United States in the upcoming negotiation, which he expects would be "positive."

"As the president of the United States (Donald Trump) said, if the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we're certainly willing to extend the open hand. If they're going to try to play us, then they're going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive," Vance told reporters before boarding Air Force Two.

"We're going to try to have a positive negotiation. The president gave us some pretty clear guidelines, and we're going to see," said Vance.

The U.S. negotiation team includes Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner. It would be the highest-level meeting between the United States and Iran since 1979, The New York Times said.

The United States and Iran are scheduled to begin negotiations on Saturday morning during the diplomatic window of a two-week conditional truce announced on Tuesday, more than one month after the start of U.S.-Israeli joint military strikes on Iran.

The ceasefire between the United States and Iran has been strained as Israel continues striking Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf have stressed that stopping the attacks on Lebanon is an integral part of the ceasefire. ■