ISLAMABAD — The failure to clinch a deal early Sunday after marathon, overnight talks between the United States and Iran — and the swift departure of Vice President JD Vance, the top American negotiator — leaves next steps uncertain and an array of questions about the durability and future of a two-week ceasefire announced not quite five days earlier.
When Vance briefed reporters shortly before leaving the Pakistani capital on Sunday, he did not say how, or whether, talks might resume. He suggested the United States remained open to a diplomatic solution but only if Iran accepts a proposal that he described as “our final and best offer” — an indication that President Donald Trump still expects Tehran to surrender.
“We just could not get to a situation where the Iranians were willing to accept our terms. I think that we were quite flexible,” Vance told reporters around 6:30 a.m. local time. He did not respond to shouted questions about whether fighting would resume in what had become an increasingly unpopular and economically damaging war for Trump and the world.
Iranian officials indicated Sunday that they, too, remain open to diplomacy, and the top negotiator, parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, suggested that Washington must make the next move. “America has understood our logic and principles, and now it’s time for it to decide whether it can earn our trust or not,” Ghalibaf posted on X.
Iranian negotiators “raised forward-looking initiatives,” he said, “but the opposing side ultimately failed to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation.”
The comments, after more than 20 hours of the highest-level face-to-face engagement between Iranian and U.S. officials in decades, left unclear whether the two sides would be able to bridge the expansive gaps in their positions before the ceasefire expires in 10 days.
In his only public statement after the talks ended, Trump shared an article on social media headlined: “The Trump card the president holds if Iran won’t bend: a naval blockade” — suggesting he could seek to further pressure Iran militarily into accepting U.S. terms. The article, from the Just the News website, suggested Trump would replicate his naval blockade of Venezuela, which preceded the U.S. military operation to seize the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.
Trump, before announcing the ceasefire, threatened the unspecified devastation of Iran, posting on Truth Social: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.” The White House later clarified that Trump was not considering the use of nuclear weapons but did not explain what he meant by his threat against the nation of more than 90 million people, with a history tracing back more than 6,000 years.
The key issues in contention during the talks in Pakistan were control of the Strait of Hormuz, the future of Iran’s nuclear program and Tehran’s demand that the United States unfreeze billions of dollars in Iranian assets, according to a Pakistani official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail sensitive closed-door discussions. Iran has effectively shut the strait, a narrow passageway that is vital to global energy supplies.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said Islamabad is continuing to support a diplomatic resolution to the war.
“It is imperative that both parties continue to uphold their commitments to ceasefire,” Dar said in a video statement shortly after Vance departed Sunday morning. “Pakistan will continue to play its role to facilitate engagement and dialogue,” he said, between Iran and the United States “in the days to come.”
In the Middle East, the ceasefire appeared to be holding, with no reported U.S. or Israeli attacks against Iran and no Iranian strikes on Israel or Persian Gulf states. But with 10 days to go in the ceasefire, time appeared to be on Iran’s side. Despite the killing early on of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other high-level assassinations, the country’s hard-line government remains intact, and its security apparatus withstood nearly six weeks of bombing.
The future of the Strait of Hormuz emerged as one of the most pressing issues in the Islamabad talks. The near-closure of the waterway has wreaked havoc on global energy markets. And since the ceasefire was declared, Iran has refused to relinquish control of the strait, in part citing Israel’s continuing military attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Lebanon was not a party to the ceasefire, a point disputed by Iran and Pakistan.
Over the course of the war, Iran seized control of the critical waterway — mining parts, requiring tankers to request permission from Tehran to pass and collecting tolls. Tehran is now demanding to make that setup permanent.
Negotiators also discussed the future of some 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium in Iran. Iran’s nuclear capabilities were one of the Trump administration’s central justifications for going to war, and after the ceasefire declaration, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested the material would not stay inside Iran.
“Right now, it’s buried, and we’re watching it,” Hegseth told reporters last week. Iran can either “give it to us voluntarily,” he said, or U.S. forces would remove it, though it was unclear how they could do so without undertaking highly dangerous ground operations inside the country.
Iran is also demanding that the U.S. unfreeze billions of dollars in Iranian assets so the money can be paid as reparations. Another proposal under discussion was to have the toll money Iran collects from the Strait of Hormuz serve as reparations for the damage caused by the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign.
Iranian leaders have said the payment of war-related damages would be a key element of a deal, providing some disincentive for the U.S. to attack again. The demand was included in Tehran’s 10-point plan to end the war that state-run media released this week.
Some Israelis, including government officials, have objected to the ceasefire, saying more needs to be done to permanently address the threats to Israel and the region posed by Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
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