U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks during a news conference after meeting with representatives from Pakistan and Iran as Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, Special Envoy for Peace Missions, listen, on Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Islamabad, Pakistan.. Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via REUTERS
“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement,” US Vice-President JD Vance said on Sunday after talks with Iranian negotiators lasting a marathon 21 hours.
He said he needs a commitment that Iran would not seek to develop a nuclear weapon. “The simple 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 that we will.”
The vice president said that they were in “constant communication” with President Trump throughout the 21 hours of peace talks. Vance told reporters that the president urged him to have “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 has since left Islamabad for Washington.
Trump typically, declared it a win. “Regardless of what happens, we win. We totally defeated that country. And so let’s see what happens. Maybe they make a deal. Maybe they don’t,” he said. “Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me.”
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the two countries had “reached an understanding on a number of issues” and there were “differences of opinion on two to three important” matters.
“These negotiations were held after 40 days of imposed war, and were held in an atmosphere of mistrust and suspicion. It is natural that we should not have expected from the beginning to reach an agreement within one meeting,” he said. “No one expected that either.”
Does that suggest more meetings have been agreed upon? Iran currently has no plans to hold another round of negotiations with the United States, a source close to the Iranian negotiating team told IRGC-affiliated Fars News.
“The Americans needed talks only to restore their lost international image and refused to lower expectations despite battlefield defeats against Iran,” media reports quoted the source as saying. He also added that Iran’s negotiating team “defended the achievements of the field” during the talks.
The Iranian foreign ministry had earlier accused the US of making “excessive demands” and “unlawful requests”. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said talks had apparently floundered over the Strait of Hormuz, indicating “serious disagreement” over its status.
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