U.S. Vice President JD Vance announced Sunday that Washington and Tehran failed to reach an agreement after intense talks in Islamabad, Pakistan.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance announced Sunday that Washington and Tehran failed to reach an agreement after intense talks in Islamabad, Pakistan. Vance said the Iranian side “chose not to accept” the conditions tabled by the U.S.
The ceasefire talks, mediated by Pakistan, were aimed at ending the six-week war in West Asia and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
While addressing the media, Vance began his remarks by thanking the Pakistan government for hosting the negotiations.
“…Whatever shortcomings in the negotiation, it wasn’t because of the Pakistanis who did an amazing job and really tried to help us and Iranians bridge the gap and get to a deal. We have been at it now for 21 hours and we have had a number of substantive discussions with the Iranians. That’s the good news.”
JD Vance said the Washington and Tehran failed to reach an agreement.
“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement. I think that is bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the USA. So, we go back to the US having not come to an agreement…they have chosen not to accept our terms.”
On Tehran’s Nuclear Programme
JD Vance reiterated the U.S.’ stance, saying Iran needs to display an “affirmative commitment” that they would not seek nuclear weapons.
“…The simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they (Iran) will not seek a nuclear weapon and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon, that is the core goal of President of the U.S.”.
“That is what we have tried to achieve through these negotiations. Their nuclear program such as it is, the enrichment facilities that they had before have been destroyed. But the simple question is – do we see a fundamental commitment of will for the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon, not just now or not just two years from now but for the long term? We haven’t seen that now, we hope that we will”, added the vice president.
‘We Came Here In Good Faith’
JD Vance stressed the U.S. delegation was “quite flexible”, in terms of negotiating with the Iranian side.
However, the two sides couldn’t arrive at a solution acceptable to them, he said, adding that the American team had come to negotiate in “good faith”.
“…We just could not get to a situation where the Iranians were willing to accept our terms. I think we were quite flexible, we were quite accommodating. The President told us – you need to come here in good faith and make your best efforts to get a deal. We did that. Unfortunately, we were not able to make any headway”, Vance said.
‘Our Final And Best Offer’
Addressing the media briefing, VP JD Vance said what was offered to the Iranians was the U.S.’ “final and best offer”.
He added that the U.S. team was consistently in touch with President Donald Trump, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“We were talking to the President consistently…We also talked to Admiral Cooper (Commander of U.S. Central, Admiral Brad Cooper), to Pete, to Marco, to the entire National Security team…We were consistently in communication with the team because we were negotiating in good faith and we leave here with a very simple proposal – a method of understanding that is our final and best offer. We will see if the Iranians accept it”, he said.
