United States Vice President JD Vance departed Islamabad on Sunday after high-stakes talks between the United States and Iran ended without an agreement following 21 hours of negotiations.
Vance said the discussions broke down over key disagreements, noting that Iran declined to accept US conditions, including commitments related to nuclear weapons.
“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement, and I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America,” Vance said.
“So we go back to the United States having not come to an agreement. We’ve made very clear what our red lines are.”
He added that he remained in close contact with US President Donald Trump throughout the talks, speaking with him multiple times. According to Vance, Iran’s nuclear programme remained the central point of disagreement.
“We need to see an affirmative commitment that [Iran] will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” he said, “That is the core goal of the president of the United States, and that’s what we’ve tried to achieve through these negotiations.”
Iran, however, played down the outcome. A spokesperson for the country’s foreign ministry, Esmaeil Baqaei, said expectations of a swift agreement were unrealistic.
“Naturally, from the beginning we should not have expected to reach an agreement in a single session. No one had such an expectation,” ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
He added that Tehran remained optimistic about continued engagement with regional partners.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency also blamed the deadlock on what it described as “excessive” US demands.
Uncertainty now surrounds the future of the 14-day ceasefire earlier agreed by the US, Iran, and Israel. Pakistani officials urged both sides to maintain the fragile truce.
“It is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to ceasefire,” Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar said, adding that efforts were underway to facilitate fresh dialogue.
The Islamabad meeting marked the first direct engagement between US and Iranian officials in over a decade and the highest-level talks since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The outcome carries significant implications for regional stability, including the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy route.
The US delegation included Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner. They held initial discussions with Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and foreign minister Abbas Araqchi.
Sources described tense moments during the negotiations.
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“There were mood swings from the two sides and the temperature went up and down during the meeting,” another Pakistani source said in reference to the first round of talks.
The Iranian delegation arrived dressed in black, mourning those killed in the ongoing conflict, including figures linked to the late supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Iranian officials also accused the US of being responsible for a recent strike on a school near a military compound, an incident the Pentagon said remains under investigation.
Security was tightened across Islamabad during the talks, with thousands of troops deployed across the city as Pakistan positioned itself as a key mediator.
Meanwhile, the US military said it was preparing to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway central to the negotiations. While US officials reported naval movements in the area, Iranian state media denied such activity.
Conflicting claims also emerged over whether the US had agreed to release frozen Iranian assets held abroad, with Washington rejecting the assertion.
With no agreement reached, attention now shifts to whether both sides will return to the negotiating table before the ceasefire expires.
(The Guardian UK)