Islamabad talks collapse

More than 21 hours of United States-Iran negotiations in Islamabad ended without a deal, leaving a two-week ceasefire hanging days before its April 21 deadline. (nytimes.com) The main gap was the nuclear timetable: the United States proposed a 20-year suspension of Iran’s nuclear activity, while Iran offered a halt of up to five years. Vice President JD Vance left Pakistan on April 13 without an agreement. (nytimes.com; time.com) Pakistani mediators, joined by Egypt and Turkey, kept working on April 13 and April 14 to set up another round before the ceasefire expires. Vance said the talks “did make some progress,” even as no date for a return session was announced. (axios.com; apnews.com) At stake is not only the pause in fighting but the question that has blocked diplomacy for years: how long Iran would stop enriching uranium, the process used to make reactor fuel and, at higher levels, bomb material. Washington wants a much longer freeze than Tehran has signaled it can accept. (nytimes.com; time.com) The Islamabad meeting was the first direct encounter between senior United States and Iranian officials in more than a decade, according to Reuters. It came four days after a ceasefire announcement tied to a war that Reuters said had lasted more than six weeks. (usnews.com; militarytimes.com) The talks unfolded at Islamabad’s Serena Hotel, with the United States team in one wing, the Iranian team in another, and trilateral sessions handled through Pakistani intermediaries, Reuters reported. That format showed how much contact both sides were willing to allow even while trying to test a broader settlement. (usnews.com) Iran’s side entered the talks seeking assurances that bombing would not resume after it made concessions, according to Time. The same report said Iranian officials viewed earlier military strikes during diplomacy as a reason to distrust another open-ended freeze. (time.com) Pressure on the diplomacy increased after the United States moved ahead with a blockade on ships entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas on April 13, while not stopping vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. That step narrowed the time for mediators trying to keep the truce from collapsing into renewed fighting. (nytimes.com; apnews.com) For now, both sides have left Islamabad without the one thing the meeting was supposed to produce: a formula both governments could sell at home before April 21. Mediators are still trying to find one before the ceasefire clock runs out. (axios.com; apnews.com)