US and Iran fail to reach deal — Vance
Photo: J.D. Vance (Getty Images)
US Vice President JD Vance said that following talks with Iran in Pakistan, the sides failed to reach an agreement to end the war. In particular, Tehran is not yet ready to abandon its nuclear program, according to CNN.
During a press conference in Islamabad, Vance said the US has been engaged in the negotiation process for 22 hours and held a number of substantive discussions. That is the good news. But there is also bad news.
"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. So we go back to the United States having not come to an agreement," the official said.
He added that the US does not yet see Iran’s willingness to give up the possibility of developing nuclear weapons, and this remains a stumbling block in the talks.
"The question is, 'Do we see a fundamental commitment of will for the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon not just now, not just two years from now but for the long term?' We haven’t seen that yet, we hope we will," Vance said.
The vice president emphasized that Iranian officials refused to accept the terms of the agreement, which he described as "quite flexible."
"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," he said.
Vance also said that US President Donald Trump had instructed the American delegation to come to the talks in good faith and make every effort to reach an agreement. According to him, that is exactly what they did, but no progress was achieved.
In addition, the vice president said he had been in constant contact with Trump during the trilateral talks with Iran in Pakistan, as well as with other administration officials.
"Obviously, we were talking to the president consistently. I don’t know how many times we talked to him, a half-dozen times, a dozen times over the past 21 hours," he told reporters.
It should be noted that ahead of Vance’s press conference, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei outlined the topics discussed during the Iran-US talks.
According to him, the main topics included the Strait of Hormuz, the nuclear program, military reparations, sanctions relief, and a complete end to the war against Iran and in the region.
US-Iran talks
As a reminder, a day before the talks, US President Donald Trump said that Iran had lost the war, and that the key issue in the negotiations would be ensuring that Tehran does not possess nuclear weapons. According to the US leader, such an outcome would be considered a successful deal.
After about half of the talks had taken place, Trump said he did not care whether there would be any agreement with Iran at all. He claims that victory has been and continues to be achieved regardless of the outcome.
We also reported earlier that, according to media reports, the talks between the US and Iran had reached a deadlock over the issue of control of the Strait of Hormuz. In particular, Tehran wants to retain control and opposes so-called "joint" management.
Earlier, Trump said the strait would be opened regardless of whether there is a deal with Iran or not. Later on Saturday, he announced the process of unblocking the Strait of Hormuz.
