US Delegation Leaves Pakistan Without Deal With Iran; Further Negotiations Uncertain

Shortly before departing back to the US, Vice President JD Vance declared early Sunday morning in Islamabad that the current round of US-Iran negotiations had ended without an agreement, saying the Iranian delegation had refused to accept American terms despite what he described as a flexible and good-faith American effort.

“We just could not get to a situation where the Iranians were willing to accept our terms,” Vance told reporters at a press conference at around 9:40pm Eastern Time Saturday night; Sunday morning in Pakistan. He pushed back against any suggestion that Washington had been inflexible, insisting the delegation had followed President Donald Trump’s explicit direction. “I think that we were quite flexible, we were quite accommodating. The president told us, you need to come here in good faith and make your best effort to get a deal. We did that, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to make any headway.”

Vance characterized the breakdown as a failure of Iranian willingness rather than American resolve. “They have chosen not to accept our terms,” he said, describing the outcome as “bad news for Iran.” It remains unclear whether the collapse of this round forecloses further diplomacy entirely, or whether additional negotiations could resume. The two-week ceasefire declared by Trump continues to hang in the balance.

The talks in Islamabad had represented the highest-level direct contact between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, bringing together a senior American delegation led by Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, facing off against an Iranian delegation of more than 70 members headed by Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. The meeting marked the first time a sitting American Vice President had engaged directly with Iranian officials since the Revolution.

The talks in Islamabad had stretched across some 15 hours of marathon negotiations before breaking down. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported after 3 a.m. local time that the third round had concluded with “serious disagreements” still unresolved. Earlier in the evening, Tasnim had struck an even more dire tone, describing the third round as the “last opportunity” to reach a common framework — a characterization it attributed to what it called “excessive US demands.”

A White House official had briefed reporters around 5 a.m. Islamabad time that the talks were still ongoing at that point: “15 hours and counting.” A Pakistani official told AFP that discussions had been “progressing in the right direction” and that “the overall atmosphere is cordial” — though the official spoke on condition of anonymity.

The opening rounds of direct talks had lasted roughly two hours before the delegations broke for rest. Pakistan’s army chief was also present. The format represented a departure from prior practice, in which the two sides had communicated through mediators in separate rooms. A White House official confirmed the talks were proceeding as trilateral direct negotiations, with Pakistan playing a hosting and facilitation role.

Before direct talks could begin, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spent Saturday morning personally mediating between the two delegations as Iran laid down a series of red lines it said Washington had to accept as preconditions before face-to-face negotiations could take place. Tehran’s demands included formal acknowledgment of its authority over the Strait of Hormuz and a full ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Iranian delegation arrived in Pakistan dressed in black, in mourning for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and others killed in the war. In a pointed symbolic gesture, they carried shoes and bags belonging to students killed during the US bombing of a school adjacent to a military compound.

As the third round was underway, President Trump told reporters in Washington that he was unconcerned about the outcome. “Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me,” he said. “The reason is because we’ve won. We’re in very deep negotiations with Iran. We win regardless. We’ve defeated them militarily.”
Trump also issued a stark warning to Beijing, saying China would face “big problems” if it shipped arms to Iran — a signal that Washington was watching for outside powers seeking to bolster Tehran’s position amid the ongoing negotiations.

Trump acknowledged what he called “very deep negotiations” but appeared to downplay the urgency of the Vance-led diplomatic effort — even as the two-week ceasefire he declared on Tuesday was set to expire in the coming days with the core objectives of the six-week war left unfulfilled. Those stated goals had included preventing Iran from attaining nuclear weapons, destroying its missile program, and fostering conditions for regime change.

The two sides had entered Islamabad with sharply divergent frameworks. Iran published a 10-point proposal demanding a guaranteed end to the war, a halt to future attacks, lifting of economic sanctions, Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, and an end to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon. The United States submitted a 15-point counterproposal focused on restricting Iran’s nuclear program and reopening the strait.

Vance had signaled cautious optimism before departing the US, saying that if Iran was “willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand.” But he added a firm warning: “If they’re going to try and play us, then they’re going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Araghchi acknowledged entering negotiations with “deep distrust” stemming from prior strikes on Iran during earlier rounds of diplomacy, and said his country was prepared to retaliate if attacked again.
Ghalibaf, speaking shortly after landing in Pakistan, was blunt: “Our experience in negotiating with the Americans has always been met with failure and broken promises.”

A senior Iranian source told Reuters that the US had agreed to release frozen Iranian assets held in Qatar and other foreign banks — a claim swiftly denied by a US official. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iranian state television’s correspondent at the talks said progress had been made on several Iranian demands, giving Tehran confidence to proceed.

The Strait of Hormuz remained the central flashpoint of the negotiations. Iran’s closure of the waterway — through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes in peacetime — has proven to be Tehran’s most potent strategic card in the conflict. Brent crude was trading above $`94 a barrel on Saturday, up more than 30% since the war began.

Iran demanded formal recognition of its authority over the strait, including the right to collect transit fees and regulate access — a position the United States and neighboring Oman have both rejected. Trump accused Iran of using the strait for extortion, and said on Friday the waterway would be opened “with or without them.”

Trump said the US had already begun “clearing out” the waterway. “We have minesweepers out there. We’re sweeping the strait,” he said, claiming all 28 of Iran’s minelaying ships had been sunk. He added that the US was acting for the benefit of other nations: “We’ll open up the strait even though we don’t use it, because we have a lot of other countries in the world that do use it that are either afraid or weak or cheap.”

A US official told Axios that two Navy warships had passed through the strait. Iranian state television and a Pakistani source disputed the claim, saying no American vessels had entered.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that any military vessels attempting to transit the strait would face “a strong response,” declaring that only civilian vessels would be permitted passage under specific conditions.
Complicating the picture further, The New York Times reported Saturday, citing US officials, that Iran itself had struggled to locate all the mines it laid — the result of what officials described as careless mining operations. Some mines are capable of drifting, and it is unclear whether Iran fully documented the location of each one, leaving the scope of any clearing operation deeply uncertain.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from Lloyd’s List Intelligence, that 100 ships have crossed the strait over the past month — with non-Iranian vessels reportedly negotiating toll payments with Iranian authorities that can reach as high as `$2 million per ship, compared to more than 100 ships per day transiting the waterway before the conflict.

Israel, which jointly launched the military campaign against Iran six weeks ago, was not represented at the Islamabad talks. Host Pakistan has no diplomatic relations with Israel and does not recognize its sovereignty.
The ceasefire has already come under strain, notably from Israel’s continued strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Both Iran and Pakistan have insisted those strikes violate the current truce; Israel and the US maintain otherwise.

Lebanese authorities said Israeli strikes on the country’s south on Saturday killed 18 people, bringing the total death toll from Israeli strikes since the war began past 2,000. Vance had stated flatly before the talks began that Lebanon would not be on the table in Islamabad.

Egypt, Turkey, and China have also been involved in broader mediation efforts alongside Pakistan.

The security footprint in Islamabad was extraordinary, with roads sealed off, a heavy police and paramilitary presence throughout the capital, and authorities urging residents to stay indoors — leaving the normally bustling city resembling a ghost town.