US and Iran fail to reach peace deal after marathon talks in Pakistan

The United States and Iran have failed to reach a peace deal after high-stakes talks in the Pakistani capital, with Vice President JD Vance saying Tehran refused to accept Washington’s terms after 21 hours of talks in Islamabad.

“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement, and I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America,” Vice President JD Vance, the head of the US delegation, told reporters shortly before he left Islamabad after the highest-level meeting between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Vance said Iran chose “not to accept our terms”, adding that the US needs to see a “fundamental commitment” from Tehran to not develop nuclear weapons.

“… We need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vance said.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday that no one had expected that talks with the US would reach an agreement in one session.

“Naturally, from the beginning, we should not have expected to reach an agreement in a single session. No one had such an expectation,” ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said, according to state broadcaster IRIB.

He said Tehran was “confident that contacts between us and Pakistan, as well as our other friends in the region, will continue”.

Pakistan, meanwhile, called on the US and Iran to uphold their commitment to the ceasefire and continue efforts to achieve a durable peace.

“On behalf of Pakistan, I would like to express gratitude to the two sides for appreciating Pakistan’s efforts to achieve a ceasefire and its mediator role. We hope that the two sides continue with a positive spirit to achieve durable peace and prosperity for the entire region and beyond,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said.

The US and Israel launched war on Iran on February 28 that expanded to the wider Middle East, with Tehran carrying out retaliatory attacks on Israel and neighbouring Gulf countries hosting US assets. More than 2,000 people have been killed and military and civilian areas damaged in the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

The war also caused a global energy crisis after Iran put a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz through which some 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas exports pass.

The US delegation led by Vance and the Iranian delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf had discussed how to advance a ceasefire already threatened by deep disagreements and Israel’s continued attacks against the Hezbollah group in Lebanon.