Islamabad talks collapse

U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad ended without a deal after more than 21 hours, and Washington moved within a day to start blockading Iranian ports. (time.com) The gap was clearest on Iran’s nuclear program. TIME reported that Iran offered to suspend nuclear activity for up to five years, while the Trump administration demanded a 20-year pause and set other red lines, including ending uranium enrichment, dismantling major enrichment sites and removing highly enriched uranium from Iran. (time.com) Vice President J.D. Vance said the United States had made its “best, final offer” before leaving Islamabad, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the sides came close but ran into “maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade.” Pakistan stayed in contact with both sides after the U.S. delegation left. (time.com; apnews.com) The talks were the highest-level face-to-face meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials since Iran’s 1979 revolution, held as a six-week war and a fragile ceasefire reshaped the region. Pakistan hosted because it maintains ties with both Washington and Tehran and was not a combatant in the war. (time.com) The maritime fight around the talks is central to the dispute. Iran has been restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf that normally carries a large share of global oil shipments, and the U.S. says the blockade is meant to force Tehran to reopen that route. (cnbc.com; apnews.com) U.S. Central Command said the blockade began on April 13 at 10 a.m. Eastern time and would apply to “vessels of all nations” entering or leaving Iranian ports and coastal areas on both the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. The command also said it would not impede ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports. (centcom.mil) That leaves a narrow but important distinction: ships headed to Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Saudi ports are not supposed to be stopped, while ships bound for Iranian ports are. Public military guidance has not spelled out how U.S. forces will identify, warn, divert or seize vessels in real time. (centcom.mil; apnews.com) Defense analysts told CNBC the operation resembles a “close blockade,” meaning naval and air forces try to prevent ships from entering or leaving specific ports rather than shutting the entire strait. That approach targets Iran’s oil exports, which CNBC said account for about 4% of world oil production and are sold mostly to China. (cnbc.com) Iran has called the U.S. move illegal and threatened retaliation against Gulf shipping and nearby ports if its own trade is cut off. President Donald Trump said Monday that American forces would destroy Iranian ships that approached the blockade line. (time.com; apnews.com) By Tuesday, Pakistani officials said they had proposed a second round of talks, and Vance said the first round “did make some progress.” For now, the split that broke the Islamabad meeting is still the split driving events at sea: how much nuclear restraint Iran will accept, and what pressure Washington is willing to use to get it. (apnews.com)