WASHINGTON — President Trump told The Post that Vice President JD Vance “has nothing to prove” as he prepares to lead negotiations to end the Iran war.

Vance will serve as Trump’s top emissary in Islamabad, Pakistan, for talks beginning Saturday — trying to turn a two-week cease-fire into a permanent deal solidifying core war aims, including an end to Tehran’s nuclear enrichment.

“He doesn’t have to prove anything because he’s doing a very good job,” Trump said in a phone interview when asked if he viewed the assignment as a test of Vance’s negotiating prowess and status as Trump’s heir apparent.

“You’re dealing against people that we don’t know whether or not they tell the truth. To our face, they’re getting rid of all nuclear weapons, everything’s gone. And then they go out to the press and say, ‘No, we’d like to enrich,’” the president said.

“So we’ll find out. But no, he’s done a great job. He has nothing to prove.”

Trump said in the same interview that US warships are restocking for possible resumed strikes on Iran if there’s no deal.

The president deployed his No. 2 despite acknowledging security concerns on the ground in Pakistan, where terrorists have for decades stoked turmoil.

The VP will be joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who led efforts to avert the war, which started Feb. 28 after a final round of talks in Geneva where Iranian officials insisted they had a right to enrich uranium.

Iran is expected to be represented by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the speaker of the country’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

Vance, an Iraq War veteran, is a longtime skeptic of military interventions and reportedly voiced his unease before the US-Israeli war against Iran. However, he has since publicly defended Trump — saying his smarts distinguish him from prior leaders who got bogged down in the Middle East.

“One big difference … is that we have a smart president, whereas in the past we’ve had dumb presidents,” Vance told reporters in the Oval Office last month.

The US team’s top objectives include convincing Iran to hand over an estimated 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium and returning the Strait of Hormuz to being fully open. Other goals include ending support for Iranian proxies and blocking rearmament with ballistic missiles.

Vance boarded Air Force Two early Friday, warning Iran not “to play” the US, ahead of what he expects to be “positive” negotiations.

“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. If they’re going to try to play us, then they’re going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive,” Vance told reporters at Joint Base Andrews.

“So we’re going to try to have a positive negotiation. The president gave us some pretty clear guidelines, and we’re going to see,” he added.

Ghalibaf, meanwhile, warned US negotiators on Friday that Tehran still expected two conditions to be met.

“Two of the measures mutually agreed upon between the parties have yet to be implemented: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets prior to the commencement of negotiations,” Ghalibaf posted on X.

“These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.”

Trump declared victory in the war following the cease-fire deal on Tuesday, touting the destruction of most of the Iranian regime’s missile and drone systems.

But Tehran’s closure of global shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz has spiked oil prices and delayed the exporting of other critical goods.

The preliminary cease-fire was premised on the reopening of the strait, through which nearly one-quarter of the world’s seaborne oil passes.

“Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz,” the president posted on Truth Social Thursday night. “That is not the agreement we have!”

Iran delayed a full reopening of the waterway and pointed to Israeli strikes in Lebanon against Hezbollah as proof that the cease-fire agreement was not being honored.

The Israelis have maintained that the pause in fighting wasn’t based on their own military actions in Lebanon, though Vance said that the IDF is willing to “check themselves” to let negotiations move forward.

Foundation for Defense of Democracies executive director Jonathan Schanzer told The Post that Iran and the US were still “worlds apart” in their messaging on the cease-fire.

“When you look at what the Islamic Republic has published about this, they’re claiming that the United States has capitulated on everything, that there’s going to be sanctions removed, etc.,” he said. “There’s a war of messaging going on right now.”

On Thursday, just nine commercial ships exited the strait — far fewer than the roughly 135 per day that were transiting the Persian Gulf before the war started on Feb. 28.

“You have to look at which countries were able to get ships out. A lot of them had to do with their diplomatic stance, could also be financial as well, but you know, I mean, we know that China was able to get a number of tankers out, the Turks were able to,” Schanzer added.

“These are countries that were in good standing with the Islamic Republic throughout the war. So they may not have been charged as much,” he also said.

“Nobody is going to want to admit that they effectively paid ransom in order to get their oil shipments out of the Strait of Hormuz,” he noted. “I’m not sure the Iranians are gonna admit to shaking everybody down.”