News Report
Vance Says U.S.–Iran Talks End With No Agreement After Long Negotiations
After 21 hours of face-to-face talks in Islamabad — the highest-level meeting between the two nations in decades — Vice President JD Vance announced that Iran had not accepted American terms, leaving the fate of a fragile two-week ceasefire uncertain.
Twenty-one hours of marathon diplomacy in Islamabad, Pakistan concluded on Sunday without a breakthrough, as Vice President JD Vance announced that Iran’s delegation had declined to accept American terms for ending the war between the United States, Israel, and Iran. The talks — mediated by Pakistan and described by officials as the highest-level face-to-face meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution — ended in the early hours of Sunday morning, leaving the future of a fragile two-week ceasefire unclear and the broader regional conflict unresolved.
Speaking at a brief news conference following the conclusion of talks, Mr. Vance told reporters that the Iranian side had chosen not to accept the conditions put forward by the American delegation. “They have chosen not to accept our terms,” he said, while stopping short of declaring the negotiations fully collapsed. He indicated that a path to agreement remained theoretically open. “We leave here with a very simple proposal: a method of understanding that is our final and best offer,” Mr. Vance said. “We’ll see if the Iranians accept it.”
“They have chosen not to accept our terms. We leave here with a very simple proposal: a method of understanding that is our final and best offer. We’ll see if the Iranians accept it.”— Vice President JD Vance, Islamabad, Pakistan
The Iranian delegation, for its part, framed the outcome differently. Esmaeil Baqhaei, the spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, posted on social media that the discussions in Pakistan “were held on various dimensions of the main negotiation topics, including the Strait of Hormuz, the nuclear issue, war reparations, lifting of sanctions and the complete end to the war against Iran and in the region.” Baqhaei, who was present as part of the Iranian delegation, added that the success of any agreement depended on the United States’ “acceptance of Iran’s legitimate rights and interests.”
“The success of the talks depended on the United States’ acceptance of Iran’s legitimate rights and interests.”— Esmaeil Baqhaei, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman
In Washington, President Trump projected a markedly different tone earlier in the evening, claiming the outcome was inconsequential to the American position. “We win, regardless,” he told reporters. “We’ve defeated them militarily.” The president did not elaborate on what terms he considered acceptable or what steps might follow the end of the ceasefire period.
Despite the lack of a formal agreement, the meeting itself was widely noted as a significant diplomatic moment. The talks marked the highest-level direct encounter between American and Iranian officials since the 1979 Islamic Revolution severed formal ties between the two nations. Representing Iran was Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, alongside Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. The U.S. delegation was led by Mr. Vance and included Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law. The sheer duration of the session — stretching past 6 a.m. local time — underscored the seriousness with which both sides approached the encounter, even if no resolution was ultimately reached.
The meeting came roughly six weeks after American and Israeli airstrikes reportedly killed Iran’s supreme leader — a development that prompted Iranian officials to publicly pledge retribution. The willingness of both governments to convene at this level, under Pakistani mediation, was itself seen as a departure from the posture of open hostility that had defined the preceding weeks of conflict.
According to Baqhaei’s public account, the talks covered a broad range of contested topics: the status of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s nuclear program, the question of war reparations, the lifting of sanctions imposed on Iran, and the terms for a “complete end to the war.” The Strait of Hormuz emerged as a particularly acute flashpoint. The U.S. Defense Department said on Saturday that two American warships had crossed the strait to begin an operation to clear mines from the critical waterway. Iran denied the claim. American officials separately indicated that Iran had been unable to fully reopen the strait in part because it could not locate and remove all of the mines it had laid in the waterway. Only a small number of commercial ships had passed through since the ceasefire took effect.
