<\/p>\n
US Vice President JD Vance landed in Islamabad on Saturday, tasked with ending six weeks of war and overcoming 47 years of enmity \u2013 21 hours later, he flew home without a deal.<\/p>\n
The two sides left Pakistan with no resolution to thorny issues like Iran\u2019s nuclear programme or its control of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
It was always unlikely that they\u2019d reach a breakthrough in a single day, even after their highest level meeting in nearly half a century.<\/p>\n
But by early Sunday morning, it was clear they weren\u2019t much closer to resolving a war that has killed thousands and roiled global energy markets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe leave here with a very simple proposal \u2013 a method of understanding that is our final and best offer,\u201d Vance said at a short press conference before departing for Washington. \u201cWe\u2019ll see if the Iranians accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read:<\/p>\n
Vance to lead Iran talks as Tehran says ceasefire violated
\nTrump demands reopening of Hormuz ahead of US-Iran peace talks<\/p>\n
As Vance delivered his verdict in Islamabad \u2013 \u201cthey have chosen not to accept our terms\u201d \u2013 US President Donald Trump was in Miami, ringside at an Ultimate Fighting Championship match, where he was joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the 1990s rapper Vanilla Ice.<\/p>\n
Vance said the team updated Trump up to a dozen times during the day, and the president delivered his take shortly before 9am Washington time on Sunday.<\/p>\n
In a Truth Social post, he said Iran\u2019s team was \u201cvery unyielding as to the single most important issue and, as I have always said, right from the beginning, and many years ago, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!\u201d<\/p>\n
That capped a chapter that began when Vance landed at 10:30am local time on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Read:<\/p>\n
Putin secures another strategic ally as Trump focuses on Iran
\nCeasefire and oil prices: Ongoing uncertainty vs what we know
\nOil trading costs have surged since Iran war began<\/p>\n
The vice president was met on the tarmac by Pakistan army chief Asim Munir, who greeted him in a grey suit and green tie.<\/p>\n
By contrast, when Munir went out the night before to greet Iran\u2019s 71-member delegation \u2013 headed by Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf \u2013 he was clad in full military regalia.<\/p>\n
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While the fragile ceasefire was holding, the differences remained stark.<\/p>\n
The Strait of Hormuz, the waterway that carries around a fifth of the world\u2019s oil and liquid natural gas flows, remained largely shut.<\/p>\n
Israel and Hezbollah were still exchanging fire in Lebanon \u2013 a ceasefire there is a key Iranian demand \u2013 and Lebanon\u2019s prime minister on Saturday night would announce the postponement of his own trip to Washington.<\/p>\n
Washington was demanding the full reopening of Hormuz, which emerged as the key sticking point, and curbs on Iran\u2019s nuclear and missile programmes.<\/p>\n
Tehran was pushing for sanctions relief, a continued grip on the waterway, and a broader rollback of US military presence in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe US must learn: you can\u2019t dictate terms to Iran,\u201d Iran\u2019s former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif posted on X. \u201cIt\u2019s not too late to learn. Yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Vance, joined by senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the stakes were also personal.<\/p>\n
With Trump the final arbiter, getting a deal that satisfies him could bolster Vance\u2019s credentials for a possible 2028 presidential run.<\/p>\n
But failure could tarnish him. A long-time critic of so-called forever wars, Vance had reason to push for a breakthrough.<\/p>\n
Simply hosting the talks was a win for Pakistan, which has spent years balancing ties with Iran, Gulf states, the US and China, and was now at the centre of some of the highest-stakes global diplomacy in years.<\/p>\n
In the middle of it all, Saudi Arabia, which Iran has bombarded over the course of the war, announced that Pakistani air force fighter jets and support aircraft had arrived at King Abdulaziz Air Base as part of a strategic defence pact between the two countries.<\/p>\n
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Preparation had been intense across Pakistan\u2019s usually calm, leafy capital.<\/p>\n
Workers lined Srinagar Highway with green crescent-moon flags. Businesses shut after authorities declared an impromptu holiday. Shipping containers blocked roads, soldiers fanned out across the city, and hotels quietly cleared their guests.<\/p>\n
A hastily assembled media centre distributed coffee in cups labelled \u201cbrewed for peace\u201d.<\/p>\n
Listen\/read: Iran ceasefire offers short-term relief, long-term risks remain elevated<\/p>\n
Just before noon, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met the Iranian delegation to hammer out details, even as the format of the discussions remained unsettled. Iranian media said no decision had been made on direct versus mediated talks, and that Sharif had floated trilateral negotiations.<\/p>\n
Sharif also hosted Vance, praising both sides for engaging and expressing hope the talks could lead to durable peace.<\/p>\n
Meantime, the first signs of movement appeared about 1 000 miles away in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Two Chinese supertankers loaded with crude moved toward the strait, hours after a Greek vessel made the crossing. All three cleared the passage late Saturday, marking the biggest day for oil shipments since the war choked off flows.<\/p>\n
Listen\/read:<\/p>\n
Strait of Hormuz closed again as Israel intensifies strikes against Lebanon
\nBrace for impact: What happens if the Bab el-Mandeb Strait closes?<\/p>\n
There was far less movement in Islamabad. Just before 2pm, three hours after Vance\u2019s arrival, the trilateral talks still hadn\u2019t begun, as he was with Sharif. From the time Sharif greeted Vance, press wouldn\u2019t see the vice president for another 16 hours.<\/p>\n
Trump, watching from Washington, made it clear that he was paying attention.<\/p>\n
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\u201cMassive \u200bnumbers of completely empty oil tankers, \u200bsome of the largest anywhere in the \u2060world, are heading, right now, to \u200bthe United States to load up with the \u200bbest and \u2018sweetest\u2019 oil and gas anywhere in the world,\u201d he wrote on Truth Social.<\/p>\n
Talks finally began at about 5pm.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s semi-official Fars news agency reported that fewer Israeli strikes in Lebanon and a US agreement in principle to release Iranian assets helped push the two sides to finally meet directly, which the White House promptly denied.<\/p>\n
Iran state TV said the process had entered the \u201cexpert phase\u201d, with economic, military, legal and nuclear specialists joining the main negotiators. Talks were broken up by a working dinner hosted by the Pakistani premier.<\/p>\n
Sixteen hours after arriving for the Sharif meeting, at about 6:30am and not long after sunrise, Vance and his team emerged to deliver the news that the talks had failed.<\/p>\n
Both sides projected a sense that they were fully entrenched, even as they hinted that some progress had been made.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no trust in the opposing side,\u201d Ghalibaf posted on X Sunday. \u201cAmerica has understood our logic and principles, and now it\u2019s time for it to decide whether it can earn our trust or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Early on Sunday morning, the hotel and convention centre where talks were held started to clear out, but Islamabad remained in partial lockdown, with checkpoints preventing access to the government district \u2013 and two large tankers had begun an attempt to cross the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Soon after Vance announced the failure of the talks, they made a hasty U-turn.<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a02026\u00a0Bloomberg<\/p>\n
#hours #Vance #leaves #Iran #talks #deal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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