High-stakes talks between the United States and Iran ended in Islamabad without an agreement after about 21 hours of negotiations, dealing a setback to efforts to turn a fragile two-week ceasefire into a broader peace framework and leaving several of the war’s most dangerous flashpoints unresolved. The talks, hosted by Pakistan, were the highest-level direct face-to-face engagement between U.S. and Iranian officials in decades, with Vice President JD Vance leading the American delegation and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf heading Tehran’s team.
Shortly after the talks ended early Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the discussions had covered a wide range of core issues, including the Strait of Hormuz, nuclear matters, sanctions relief, war reparations, and an end to the conflict against Iran and the wider region. He said the Iranian side had used all its capacity to defend the country’s rights and interests and that both delegations had exchanged substantial information and texts during the session.
But Vance told reporters in Islamabad that no consensus had been reached and said the American team would return home. He blamed the failure on Iran’s refusal to meet what he described as Washington’s central condition: a clear, durable commitment not to pursue nuclear weapons or the capabilities that could allow Tehran to build them quickly. Vance said that demand remained a “red line” set by President Donald Trump and warned that the lack of an agreement was “bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States.”
Iran, however, signalled that it did not view the outcome as a total collapse. Baghaei and other Iranian officials said no one had realistically expected a breakthrough in a single session, while also accusing Washington of making excessive and unlawful demands. That response suggests Tehran is trying to leave room for further diplomacy even as it rejects the U.S. version of what a settlement should require.
The failed talks leave the ceasefire hanging in the balance. Key disputes remain over uranium enrichment, sanctions, freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, and the scope of any wider regional truce, especially as Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon continue. Reuters reported that the United States has now moved toward a maritime blockade focused on Iranian ports after the talks failed, adding a new layer of pressure and increasing the risk that diplomacy could give way to renewed escalation.
