
Vice President JD Vance announced early Sunday that lengthy negotiations between the United States and Iran in Islamabad have concluded without an agreement, after Tehran declined to accept Washington’s conditions.
Speaking to reporters in the Pakistani capital, Vance thanked his hosts while offering a measured assessment of the outcome following nearly a full day of talks.
He said the discussions were meaningful but ultimately fell short of producing 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,” he 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.”
He added, “So we go back to the United States having not come to an agreement.”
Vance stressed that the American delegation had clearly outlined its expectations and limitations throughout the negotiations.
“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’ve made that as clear as we possibly could, and they have chosen not to accept our terms,” the Vice President said.
When asked to specify which points Iran rejected, Vance declined to disclose details from the closed-door discussions.
“Well, I won’t go into all the details because I don’t want to negotiate in public after we negotiated for 21 hours in private,” he said. “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. 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 noted that while parts of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure have already been damaged, the central issue remains whether Tehran is willing to make a lasting commitment.
“Again, their nuclear programs, such as it is, the enrichment facilities that they’ve had before, they’ve been destroyed. But 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,” he said.
Vance described the American approach as serious and conducted in good faith, though it did not yield progress.
“The President told us, you need to come here in good faith and make your best effort to get a deal. We did that, and unfortunately we weren’t able to make any headway.”
He also said the negotiating team remained in close contact with President Donald Trump and national security officials throughout the talks, and that the U.S. is leaving the table with what it considers its final proposal.
“We were constantly in communication with the team because we were negotiating in good faith. And we leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer,” Vance said. “We’ll see if the Iranians accept it.”