The United States and Iran ended a historic round of face-to-face talks early Sunday without reaching an agreement and the fate of the fragile, two-week ceasefire still unclear.
Vice President JD Vance, who led the US delegation during the 21 hours of talks in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, said negotiations finished without a deal after the Iranians refused to accept American terms to refrain from developing a nuclear weapon.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar called on Iran and the US to keep their commitment to maintain the ceasefire.
“It is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to ceasefire,” Dar said.
Pakistan will continue to play a mediating role and try to facilitate dialogue between Iran and the US in coming days, Dar said.
The discussions began Saturday, a few days after a fragile ceasefire was announced as the war that has killed thousands of people and shaken global markets entered its seventh week.
Vance said he remained in constant communication with US President Donald Trump and others in the administration during the negotiations.
“But the simple fact is that 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 told reporters. “That is the core goal of the president of the United States. And that’s what we’ve tried to achieve through these negotiations.”
The vice president said he spoke with Trump “a half dozen times, a dozen times, over the past 21 hours” and also spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Adm. Brad Cooper, head of the United States Central Command.
“We were constantly in communication with the team because we were negotiating in good faith,” Vance said, speaking at a podium in front of a pair of American flags with special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to his side. “And we leave here, and 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.”
