US Vice President JD Vance departed Pakistan on Sunday after no deal was reached with Iran to end the war.
If you’re just joining us, here’s what he said at a news conference following a marathon negotiating session.
No agreement: The talks, which began on Saturday local time in Islamabad and ran through the night into Sunday morning, did not yield a deal to permanently end the war.
“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,” said Vance.
US gave its “final and best offer”: Vance said Iranian negotiators refused to accept US terms for a deal, which he insisted had been “quite flexible.”
“We were quite accommodating. 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 make any headway,” he said.
On Tehran’s nuclear program: Iran did not commit to forgo building a nuclear weapon after hours of negotiations, according to the vice president.
“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.
Communication with administration: Vance said that he spoke with President Donald Trump “consistently” during the talks. He said he also spoke with other top officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, and Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command.
Meanwhile, Iranian state media blamed the failure of the talks on the US’ “excessive” demands.
“The negotiations between the Iranian and American teams concluded a few minutes ago and, due to what is described as US overreach and ambitions, the two sides have so far failed to reach an agreement,” a correspondent for the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported from Islamabad.