U.S. Vice President JD Vance is returning to the United States from the Pakistani-brokered peace talks with Iran without an agreement.
The US vice president made very brief remarks to the media in Islamabad on Sunday morning.
He began his comments by thanking the Pakistani prime minister and army chief, describing them as “incredible hosts”.
“Whatever shortcomings of the negotiation, it wasn’t because of the Pakistanis, who did an amazing job and really tried to help us and the Iranians bridge the gap and get to a deal. We’ve 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. So, we go back to the United States, having not come to an agreement. 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. And we made that as clear as we possibly could, and they have chosen not to accept our terms.”
Vance explained that negotiations ended early Sunday between the U.S. and Iran without a peace deal after the Iranians refused to accept American terms to not develop a nuclear weapon.
The high-stakes talks ended after 21 hours, Vance said, with the vice president in constant communication with U.S. President Donald Trump and others in the administration.
“But the simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vance told reporters.
“That is the core goal of the president of the United States. And that’s what we’ve tried to achieve through these negotiations”, he added.
