US Vice-President JD Vance walked away from Islamabad empty-handed after a grueling 21-hour negotiation session with Iranian officials failed to produce a peace deal. The historic face-to-face talks—the highest-level direct engagement between Washington and Tehran in decades—collapsed over fundamental disagreements on nuclear commitments and control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Vance announced the breakdown on Sunday, stating his team had departed Pakistan without an agreement. “We leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer,” Vance told reporters. “We’ll see if the Iranians accept it.” The vice-president’s entire remarks lasted just over three minutes, during which he fielded only three questions before exiting.
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB blamed “unreasonable demands” by the US for scuttling the talks. “Despite various initiatives from the Iranian delegation, the unreasonable demands of the American side prevented the progress of the negotiations,” IRIB said on Telegram. “Thus the negotiations ended.”
The core impasse centered on Washington’s insistence that Tehran provide an “affirmative commitment” to forgo nuclear weapons development indefinitely. “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 explained. “That is the core goal of the President of the United States.”
Vance claimed the US delegation demonstrated flexibility during the marathon session. “I think that we were quite flexible. We were quite accommodating,” he said. “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.”
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency identified the Strait of Hormuz as a major point of “serious disagreement.” The US military announced on Saturday that it had “began setting conditions for clearing mines in the strait of Hormuz,” with two navy destroyers transiting the waterway. Iran’s joint military command swiftly denied that claim.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a stark warning that any military vessels attempting to transit the strait would face “a strong response.” Only non-military vessels would be permitted under specific regulations, according to IRGC statements carried by Iranian media.
Meanwhile, Israel continued its military campaign against Iranian-backed forces in Lebanon. The latest attacks pushed the death toll past 2,000 with more than 6,300 wounded, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Saturday that “Israel under my leadership will continue to fight Iran’s terror regime and its proxies.” Israel was not represented at the Islamabad talks.
Former President Donald Trump dismissed the significance of any potential deal when speaking to reporters outside the White House. “Regardless of what happens, we win,” Trump said. “Whether we make a deal or not, makes no difference to me.”
Vance revealed that his team maintained constant communication with Trump throughout the negotiations. “Obviously we were talking to the president consistently,” Vance said. “Half dozen times, a dozen times over the past 21 hours.” The delegation also consulted with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Admiral Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command.
Iranian negotiators had laid out specific demands during preliminary meetings with Pakistani mediators, including a ceasefire in Lebanon, war reparations, and the unblocking of frozen assets. The Iranian foreign ministry’s spokesperson, Esmaeil Baqaei, warned earlier that the talks’ success depended on Washington avoiding “excessive demands” and “unlawful requests.”
Baqaei noted that discussions covered “the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the nuclear issue, war reparations, the lifting of sanctions, and the complete end of the war against Iran.” Pakistani sources described volatile dynamics during the first round of talks, telling Reuters that “there were mood swings from the two sides and the temperature went up and down during the meeting.”
Qatar announced the full resumption of all maritime navigation activities beginning Sunday, with vessels permitted to operate between 6am and 6pm local time. The Ministry of Transport emphasized strict adherence to safety protocols, though it remained unclear whether Qatari vessels would attempt to transit the still-disputed Hormuz strait.
The US delegation was led by Vance, while Iran’s team featured parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Both sides first met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif before commencing direct negotiations on Saturday. Iranian media reported that technical personnel continued meeting even after the main talks concluded, with some outlets suggesting another round might occur Sunday morning.
As dawn broke in Islamabad around 3am local time Sunday, negotiations were reportedly still ongoing in some form. The talks represented the most significant diplomatic engagement between the two nations in decades, aimed at ending a weeks-long war that has claimed thousands of lives and disrupted global economic flows through Iran’s closure of the critical Hormuz shipping lane.
