Vice President JD Vance said Iran hasn’t clearly committed to forego nuclear weapons.
U.S. and Iranian delegations closed out peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 12, without a deal.
Vice President JD Vance, who led the U.S. delegation in the talks, said the Iranian delegation has declined to accept a set of U.S. terms for a lasting peace.
“We have been at it now for 21 hours, and we’ve had a number of substantive discussions with the Iranians. That’s the good news,” Vance said. “The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement, and I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America.”
The Islamabad talks began on April 11, four days after President Donald Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran. The temporary truce has already proven contentious.
Vance said the stumbling block in the Islamabad talks has been Tehran’s refusal to commit to forego nuclear weapons.
“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,” Vance said.
Iranian state media said the U.S. terms had been excessive. State media said Iran’s nuclear rights and control over the Strait of Hormuz were among the points of contention
Before the April 7 ceasefire, Tehran had submitted a set of its 10 terms for a lasting peace. Those terms included the acceptance of some degree of uranium enrichment.
Trump has not agreed to Iran’s 10-point peace proposal, but referred to the terms as a “workable basis” to continue negotiations when he accepted the April 7 ceasefire
As he closed out the Islamabad talks, Vance said, “We’ve made very clear what our red lines are, what things we’re willing to accommodate them on, and what things we’re not willing to accommodate them on.”
US Begin Hormuz Minesweep
On April 11, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced it had sent two guided-missile destroyers, USS Frank E. Peterson and USS Michael Murphy, through the Strait of Hormuz to sweep for mines that Iranian forces had dispersed in the narrow waterway.
“Today, we began the process of establishing a new passage and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon to encourage the free flow of commerce,” CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in a press statement on Saturday.
Though Iranian forces have agreed to stop attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz since agreeing to a two-week ceasefire on April 7, Iranian forces have taken issue with the activity of the two U.S. warships.
“Permission to transit, in accordance with specific regulations, is granted exclusively to non-military vessels,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said in a statement shared through state media on Saturday.
Tehran has sought to exercise continued control over the Strait of Hormuz as one of its 10 conditions for a long-term peace deal.
US Won: Trump
Trump declared U.S. victory over Iran on Saturday, even as peace negotiations continued in Pakistan.
“Regardless what happens, we win. We totally defeated that country,” the president told reporters before departing Washington for Miami. “We’re in very deep negotiations with Iran. We win regardless. We’ve defeated them militarily.”
Trump touted the destruction of Iran’s air force and air defenses, as well as Iran’s seapower. He also acknowledged U.S. efforts to clear the Strait of Hormuz of leftover Iranian mines during the ceasefire and ongoing negotiations.
“We’ll open up the strait, even though we don’t use it, because we have a lot of other countries in the world that do use it, that are either afraid, or weak, or cheap,” he said.
Israel Will Keep Fighting: Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an X post on April 11 that “Israel under my leadership will continue to fight Iran’s terror regime and its proxies.”
Israeli forces have continued to strike Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon since April 7, including with ground combat forces in southern Lebanon.
Tehran was quick to object to Israel’s continued military operations in Lebanon after the April 7 ceasefire.
When he announced the ceasefire in an X post on April 7, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote that “the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America, along with their allies, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.”
Vance contradicted Sharif’s characterization of the ceasefire, saying a “legitimate misunderstanding” had occurred, but that the ceasefire Trump had accepted with Iran simply didn’t include Lebanon.
The Netanyahu government has signaled a willingness to discuss a ceasefire with Lebanon, and the U.S. State Department has offered to host the talks as early as next week.
Jacki Thrapp contributed to this report.
By Ryan Morgan
