Islambad talks end without deal

U.S. and Iranian officials left Islamabad on Sunday without a deal, after about 21 hours of talks over a shaky ceasefire and Iran’s nuclear program. (apnews.com) Vice President J.D. Vance said Iran would not make what Washington called an “affirmative commitment” not to seek a nuclear weapon or the tools to build one quickly. He said the U.S. team was returning home after the overnight session in Pakistan’s capital. (abcnews.com) Iranian officials said the talks produced some progress but failed over two major disputes, and both sides publicly blamed the other after the meeting ended. Some technical staff stayed behind for further contact even as the main delegations departed. (apnews.com; newsday.com) The meeting mattered because it was a rare face-to-face session between senior U.S. and Iranian officials after weeks of war and only days into a two-week ceasefire. The pause in fighting was already fragile, and the failure to lock in terms left its future uncertain. (apnews.com; cnn.com) Another issue hanging over the talks was the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway used by a large share of the world’s oil shipments. ABC News reported that Vance did not say whether the negotiations resolved plans to reopen it, even though access to the strait was a key part of the ceasefire framework announced earlier in the week. (abcnews.com) Pakistan had pushed to turn the ceasefire into a broader settlement and hosted both sides after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif publicly invited them to Islamabad. Pakistani officials cast the gathering as part of a mediation effort after Sharif and army chief Asim Munir were cited by both Washington and Tehran in ceasefire announcements earlier this week. (thenews.pk; vpm.org) The U.S. delegation was led by Vance and included special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, according to ABC News. Reuters photographs and reporting showed Vance meeting Sharif in Islamabad before the direct session with Iranian officials began. (abcnews.com; yahoo.com) The immediate result is narrower than either side wanted: a ceasefire still exists, but there is no written agreement on the war’s end and no public breakthrough on the nuclear question. For now, Islamabad produced contact between the two governments, but not the commitment Washington said it came to secure. (apnews.com; abcnews.com)