Islamabad Iran talks
U.S. and Iranian negotiators met in Islamabad but produced only partial progress and still face major trust gaps. (reuters.com) The talks put the Strait of Hormuz at the center of the agenda — President Trump said the waterway was being “cleared,” while Iran’s parliament speaker said the U.S. remained “unable” to win Tehran’s trust and U.S. officials warned diplomacy is running alongside threats of renewed strikes. (reuters.com) (thehindu.com) (theguardian.com)
U.S. and Iranian negotiators left Islamabad on April 12 without a deal, after marathon talks that tested a fragile two-week ceasefire. (apnews.com) Vice President JD Vance led the U.S. side in Pakistan, and Iranian officials met him face to face after weeks of war and days of shuttle diplomacy. Vance said afterward that “we have not reached an agreement.” (cbsnews.com; apnews.com) The talks centered on two immediate disputes: Iran’s nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow Gulf waterway that carries a large share of the world’s seaborne oil. President Donald Trump said the strait was being “cleared,” while also warning that U.S. warships were being reloaded in case diplomacy failed. (abcnews.com; theguardian.com) Iran’s side signaled the trust gap remained wide. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the United States was still “unable” to win Tehran’s trust, according to live coverage on April 12. (thehindu.com) Islamabad became the venue because Pakistan has working ties with both Washington and Tehran and had already been drawn into regional diplomacy after the ceasefire announcement. Pakistan also built a media center in the capital for the talks, underscoring how closely the meeting was watched. (apnews.com; aljazeera.com) The ceasefire itself is narrow and unstable. U.S. and Iranian officials have argued over whether it also restrains fighting involving Hezbollah in Lebanon, even as Israeli strikes there have continued. (usatoday.com; abc.net.au) That dispute matters because Tehran has linked wider de-escalation to events beyond Iran’s borders, while Washington has treated shipping through Hormuz as a separate red line. Trump had already set reopening the waterway as a condition for avoiding broader strikes on Iranian infrastructure. (reuters.com; abcnews.com) The war that produced these talks began with major U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, according to ABC News live coverage, and the Islamabad meeting came about six weeks later. By then, tanker traffic through Hormuz had been disrupted badly enough to push oil prices higher and freeze much of the route. (abcnews.com; irishtimes.com) No new session was announced immediately after the Islamabad talks ended. For now, the ceasefire is still standing, but both sides left Pakistan saying the hardest issues are still unresolved. (apnews.com; abcnews.com)
