U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad were ineffective.
The US and Iranian delegations failed to reach an agreement to end the Middle East war in their marathon talks in Islamabad, US Vice President J.D. Vance announced today (Sunday), flying to Washington after making what he called “the final and best offer” he could to Tehran’s envoys.
Vance: I think it’s bad news for Iran more than it is for the US
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“We’re going back to the US without a deal,” Vance said during a brief press conference in Islamabad, where the Americans and Iranians negotiated from yesterday, Saturday, to the early hours of today, for 21 hours, he explained.
“I think it’s bad news for Iran more than it is for the US” that the negotiations ended without agreement, he added.
He commented specifically on not receiving an “explicit commitment” from Tehran that it would abandon Iran’s nuclear energy program, as demanded by US President Donald Trump, who along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 28 unleashed the war that has cost thousands of lives and set the global economy on fire.
“We are leaving after submitting a very simple proposal, an approach that is our final offer and the best we could do. We will see whether the Iranians choose to accept our terms or not,” Vance added, stressing that “we made it very clear what our red lines are.”
U.S. demands unreasonable, Iran says
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Tehran, for its part, confirmed the termination of the negotiations, blaming their failure on “unreasonable demands” by the US, according to a report carried by Iranian state television IRIB.
The talks between the two countries, brokered by Pakistan, reached a level unprecedented since the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979.
After the announcement of a two-week ceasefire on Wednesday, they were intended to find an agreement on a lasting truce.
From the US side, Vice President Vance was accompanied by Steve Whitcoff, a special envoy from the White House, and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and associate. Iran was represented in particular by the Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bayr Galibaf, an influential politician, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. The delegation had about 70 members.
Before announcing the failure and termination of the negotiations, Iranian diplomatic spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the talks had addressed “various components of the key issues under negotiation, including the Hormuz Strait, the nuclear program, the lifting of sanctions and the definitive end of the war against Iran and in the region.”
US Vice President Vance hinted that Washington was going to give Iran some time to consider the US “offer”.
No “formal commitment” from Iran
“The fact is simply that we need a formal commitment from their side that they will not seek to acquire nuclear weapons and they will not seek to acquire the means that would allow them to build (nuclear weapons) quickly,” JD Vance insisted.
“The question is simple: will we see a formal commitment on the part of the Iranians that they will not develop nuclear weapons — not just today, not just in the next few years, but in the long term? We haven’t seen it yet. We hope to see it,” the U.S. vice president insisted.
“We hope to see it.
Vance put the issue of Iran’s nuclear program front and center, explaining why the talks did not go well, without mentioning the issue of the Hormuz Strait at the press conference.
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This Gulf maritime artery, strategically important for global hydrocarbon supply, has been de facto closed since the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran, with serious chain effects on the global economy — shortages, price increases…
The US military announced yesterday that two of its destroyers had entered the Strait of Hormuz for preparatory operations before the lifting of sea mines laid. “We are sweeping the strait,” US President Trump pleaded, addressing the press.
The Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, stressed they would take action with “ferocity” against any warship attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz.
“It’s the same to me” whether or not a deal is struck with Iran, President Trump told the press at the same time yesterday, while negotiations were still underway in Pakistan. “We beat them militarily” and whatever happens “the US has won,” he commented.
