No agreement reached in Islamabad over nuclear weapons development
Munir Ahmed And Eduardo Castillo
Islamabad: The United States and Iran ended a historic round of face-to-face talks on Sunday without reaching an agreement, with the fate of a fragile two-week ceasefire still uncertain.
Vice President J.D. Vance, who led the American delegation in the 21-hour talks in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, said the negotiations ended without a deal after the Iranians refused to accept Washington’s conditions to refrain from developing nuclear weapons.
There has been no comment yet from the Iranian delegation or Pakistani mediators.
The discussions began on Saturday, just days after a fragile ceasefire was declared, as the war that has killed thousands of people and shaken global markets entered its seventh week.
Vance said he was in constant communication with President Donald Trump and other leading figures in the administration during the negotiations, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command.
“The bad news is that we couldn’t reach an agreement, and I think that’s more bad news for Iran than it is bad news for the United States,” Vance told reporters shortly before leaving Islamabad.
“But the reality is that we need to see a positive commitment that they will not seek nuclear weapons and will not seek the means to quickly obtain nuclear weapons,” he said.
“This is the fundamental goal of the president of the United States. That’s what we tried to achieve through these negotiations.”
Two Pakistani officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the press, said that the third round of talks between the heads of delegations was over and that the talks would continue after the break.
However, Vance later addressed the press, announced that there was no agreement, and went to the airport to leave Pakistan.
The BBC reported that Iranian state media said “unreasonable demands” from the United States had left the negotiations deadlocked.
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said in a post on Telegram, “Despite various initiatives of the Iranian delegation, the unreasonable demands of the American side prevented the negotiations from progressing. Thus, the negotiations ended.”
Trump, who has not yet commented on the end of the talks, had previously announced that he would suspend attacks against Iran for two weeks. Vance’s remarks did not provide any information about what would happen after this period expires or whether the ceasefire would continue.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar called on Iran and the USA to maintain their ceasefire and said that “it is imperative for the parties to maintain their commitment to the ceasefire”.
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong warned that further escalation of the conflict would impose a greater humanitarian cost and cause further damage to the global economy.
“The priority now should be to maintain the ceasefire and return to negotiations,” Wong said in a statement. “We continue to want to see a rapid resolution to this conflict.”
Before the talks concluded, Trump reshared an article on social media that suggested the United States could blockade Iran and pressure the country to make a deal after the talks fail.
Story from conservative news source Just NewsHe framed the naval blockade as “the Trump card in the president’s hand if Iran doesn’t yield.”
The president was spotted attending a UFC fight in Miami with several members of his family and Marco Rubio while negotiations were ongoing.
US destroyers pass through Hormuz
Meanwhile, the US military said that two destroyers passed through the Strait of Hormuz before mine-clearing operations, a first since the start of the war. However, Iran’s joint military command denied this, according to Iranian state media.
Trump told reporters, “We are sweeping the Strait. It doesn’t matter to me whether we make a deal or not,” and described the talks as “very deep”, while Iranian state television described them as “serious” differences.
The U.S. delegation, led by Vance, and the Iranian team, led by parliamentary speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, discussed how to advance the ceasefire, which is already threatened by deep disagreements with Pakistan and ongoing Israeli attacks against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Iranian delegation told state television that it presented “red lines” in talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, including compensation for damage caused by US-Israeli attacks and the release of Iran’s frozen assets.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Tehran entered the negotiations with “deep distrust” after the attacks against Iran in previous talks and that it was ready to retaliate if its country was attacked again.
The war has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 2020 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab countries, and caused lasting damage to the infrastructure of half a dozen Middle Eastern countries. Iran’s hold on the Strait of Hormuz has largely cut off the Persian Gulf and Iran’s oil and gas exports from the global economy, causing energy prices to rise.
Iran’s closure of the strait has proven to be its greatest strategic advantage. About one-fifth of the oil traded in the world passed through more than 100 ships a day, often. It has been recorded that only 12 people have crossed since the ceasefire.
Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are expected to start in Washington on Tuesday after Israel’s surprise announcement, despite the lack of official relations.
AP, Reuters
Take notes directly from our foreign country reporters about things that make headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What’s on in the World Newsletter.
