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<\/p>\nThe United States and Iran ended a historic round of face-to-face talks today without reaching an agreement and with the fate of the fragile, two-week ceasefire still unclear.<\/p>\n
Vice President JD Vance, who led the US delegation during the 21 hours of talks in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, said negotiations finished without a deal after the Iranians refused to accept American terms to refrain from developing a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n
There was no immediate comment from the Iranian delegation, but Pakistani mediators called on both countries to maintain the ceasefire.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to ceasefire,\u201d Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said, adding that his country will try to facilitate a new dialogue between Iran and the US in the coming days.<\/p>\n
The discussions in Islamabad began on Saturday, a few days after a fragile ceasefire was announced as the war that has killed thousands of people and shaken global markets entered its seventh week.<\/p>\n
Vance said he remained in constant communication with US President Donald Trump and others in the administration during the negotiations.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut 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,\u201d Vance told reporters. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the core goal of the president of the United States. And that\u2019s what we\u2019ve tried to achieve through these negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vice president said he spoke with Trump \u201ca half dozen times, a dozen times, over the past 21 hours\u201d and also spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the United States Central Command.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were constantly in communication with the team because we were negotiating in good faith,\u201d Vance said, speaking at a podium in front of a pair of American flags with special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to his side. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we leave here, and we leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer. We\u2019ll see if the Iranians accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two Pakistani officials said a third round of discussions between the delegation heads had finished and the talks would resume after a break.<\/p>\n
Then the US vice president addressed the press, announced there was no agreement and went to the airport to leave Pakistan.<\/p>\n
Trump had said he would suspend attacks against Iran for two weeks. Vance\u2019s comments did not indicate what will happen after that time period expires or if the ceasefire will remain in place.<\/p>\n
Strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the US military said two destroyers transited the Iran-gripped Strait of Hormuz ahead of mine-clearing work, a first since the war began. <\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s state media, however, said the joint military command denied that.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu vows to finish operations against Hezbollah, through war\u00a0if need be.\u00a0 (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
The US delegation, led by Vance, and the Iranian one led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf discussed with Pakistan how to advance the ceasefire already threatened by deep disagreements and Israel’s continued attacks against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose health ministry said the death toll has surpassed 2000.<\/p>\n
Since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, the most direct US contact had been in 2013 when president Barack Obama called newly elected President Hassan Rouhani to discuss Iran\u2019s nuclear program. <\/p>\n
The most recent highest-level meetings were between Secretary of State John Kerry and counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif during negotiations over the program.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Now talks feature Vance, a reluctant defender of the war who has little diplomatic experience and warned Iran not to \u201ctry and play us,\u201d and Qalibaf, a former commander with Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard who has issued some of Iran’s most fiery statements since fighting began.<\/p>\n
Iran sets \u2018red lines\u2019 including compensation for strikes<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s state-run news agency said the three-party talks began after Iranian preconditions, including a reduction in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, were met.<\/p>\n
Iran’s delegation told state television it had presented \u201cred lines\u201d in meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, including compensation for damage caused by US-Israeli strikes that launched the war on February 28 and releasing Iran\u2019s frozen assets.<\/p>\n
The war has killed at least 3000 people in Iran, 2020 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, and caused lasting damage to infrastructure in half a dozen Middle Eastern countries. <\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Vice President JD Vance meets with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz has largely cut off the Persian Gulf and its oil and gas exports from the global economy, sending energy prices soaring.<\/p>\n
Reflecting the high stakes, officials from the region said Chinese, Egyptian, Saudi and Qatari officials were in Islamabad to indirectly facilitate talks. <\/p>\n
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.<\/p>\n
In Tehran, residents told The Associated Press they were sceptical yet hopeful after weeks of airstrikes left destruction across their country of some 93 million people.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeace alone is not enough for our country because we\u2019ve been hit very hard, there have been huge costs,\u201d 62-year-old Amir Razzai Far said.<\/p>\n
In his strongest words yet, Pope Leo XIV denounced the \u201cdelusion of omnipotence\u201d fueling the war.<\/p>\n
US sending forces to help mine-clearing on the strait<\/p>\n
Ahead of the talks, President Donald Trump accused Iran of using the Strait of Hormuz for extortion, and told reporters Friday it would be opened \u201cwith or without them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s closure of the strait has proved its biggest strategic advantage in the war. <\/p>\n
Around a fifth of the world\u2019s traded oil had typically passed through on over 100 ships a day. Only 12 have been recorded transiting since the ceasefire.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Trump said on social media that the US had begun \u201cclearing out\u201d the strait.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, we began the process of establishing a new passage and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon,\u201d US Central Command commander Admiral Brad Cooper later said. <\/p>\n
The US statement about the destroyers added: “Additional US forces, including underwater drones, will join the clearance effort in the coming days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said Tehran was entering negotiations with \u201cdeep distrust\u201d after strikes on Iran during previous talks. Araghchi, part of Iran\u2019s delegation in Pakistan, said Saturday that his country was prepared to retaliate if attacked again.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s 10-point proposal ahead of the talks called for a guaranteed end to the war and sought control over the Strait of Hormuz. It included ending fighting against Iran\u2019s \u201cregional allies,” explicitly calling for a halt to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
The United States\u2019 15-point proposal includes restricting Iran\u2019s nuclear program and reopening the strait.<\/p>\n
Israel and Lebanon will have direct negotiations<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Israel pressed ahead with strikes in Lebanon after saying there is no ceasefire there. Iran and Pakistan have disagreed. The Lebanese state-run news agency reported at least three people killed.<\/p>\n
Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are expected to begin Tuesday in Washington, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun\u2019s office said Friday, after Israel’s surprise announcement authorising talks despite the countries’ lack of official relations.<\/p>\n
But as thousands in Lebanon protested the planned negotiations, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he had postponed a planned trip to Washington \u201cin light of the current internal circumstances.\u201d It was not immediately clear what that meant for talks.<\/p>\n
Israel wants Lebanon’s government to assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, much like was envisaged in a November 2024 ceasefire. <\/p>\n
But it is unclear whether Lebanon’s army can confiscate weapons from the militant group, which has survived efforts to curb its strength for decades.<\/p>\n
Hezbollah joined the war in support of Iran in the opening days. Israel followed with airstrikes and a ground invasion.<\/p>\n
The day the Iran ceasefire deal was announced, Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes, killing more than 300 people in the deadliest day in Lebanon since the war began, according to the country’s Health Ministry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States and Iran ended a historic round of face-to-face talks today without reaching an agreement and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,5107,43,64,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-375702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-middle-east","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-north-america","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}