US–Iran talks collapse
American and Iranian negotiators left 21 hours of talks in Pakistan without a ceasefire or peace deal, and each side blamed the other for the breakdown. ( ) JD Vance said Iran had not accepted American terms, and President Trump publicly downplayed the outcome, saying “from the standpoint of America, we win.” ( )
U.S. and Iranian negotiators left Islamabad early Sunday without a deal after 21 hours of talks, leaving a two-week ceasefire without a broader peace agreement. (apnews.com) Vice President JD Vance, who led the U.S. side in Pakistan’s capital, said Iran had rejected American terms requiring a commitment not to pursue a nuclear weapon. He said the U.S. team was returning home after giving Tehran its “best and final offer.” (abcnews.com) Iranian officials blamed Washington for the breakdown, and news reports from the talks said both sides accused the other of making unreasonable demands. The face-to-face session was the first direct U.S.-Iran negotiation of the war and the first such contact between the two governments in decades. (theguardian.com, aljazeera.com) The talks were meant to turn a temporary pause in fighting into something more durable after six weeks of war across Iran, Israel and neighboring countries. Without an agreement, the ceasefire still exists, but its terms, enforcement and duration remain unsettled. (cfr.org, apnews.com) The central dispute was Iran’s future nuclear capability. Vance said Washington wanted an “affirmative commitment” that Iran would not seek a nuclear weapon or the capacity to build one quickly, even after U.S. officials said Iran’s enrichment facilities had been destroyed in the war. (abcnews.com, cnbc.com) Another unresolved issue was the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping route at the mouth of the Persian Gulf that carries a large share of the world’s oil trade. Reporting during the talks said access through the strait remained a sticking point in the negotiations. (aljazeera.com, cfr.org) President Donald Trump publicly downplayed the failed outcome before the talks ended, telling reporters on Saturday, “From the standpoint of America, we win.” Fortune reported that Trump framed the negotiations as less important than what he described as U.S. military gains. (fortune.com, abcnews.com) Pakistan hosted the negotiations in Islamabad after positioning itself as a go-between for Washington and Tehran. Reuters reported that the delegations met at a five-star hotel under heavy security as Pakistan tried to broker a wider stop to the fighting. (reuters.com) For now, the talks ended where they began: with a ceasefire holding, no peace deal signed, and both governments saying the other side walked away from terms it could not accept. (apnews.com, reuters.com)
