U.S. and Iran Fail to Reach Ceasefire Deal After Marathon Talks in Islamabad

Twenty-one hours of direct negotiations end without agreement. Tehran demands reparations and transit fees as Washington presses nuclear limits

ISLAMABAD — The United States and Iran concluded their highest-level direct talks in more than four decades on Sunday without a deal to end a six-week war, leaving a fragile two-week ceasefire hanging in the balance despite an unprecedented 21-hour negotiating marathon.

Vice President JD Vance, who led the American delegation at the Serena Hotel in the Pakistani capital, told reporters before departing that “we have not reached an agreement.” He said Tehran had “chosen not to accept our terms” and described the outcome as “bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America.”

Image credits: AFP

Iran’s chief negotiator, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, struck a sharply different tone.

“My colleagues on the Iranian delegation raised forward-looking initiatives, but the opposing side ultimately failed to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation in this round of negotiations,” he wrote on X.

“America has understood our logic and principles, and now it’s time for it to decide whether it can earn our trust or not.”

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf

The talks were mediated by Pakistan. According to a Pakistani source, “there were mood swings from the two sides, and the temperature went up and down during the meeting.”

Core Sticking Points: Nuclear Program and Strait of Hormuz

Vance said Washington demanded an “affirmative commitment” that Iran would not seek a nuclear weapon nor acquire “the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon.” He added that he had spoken with President Donald Trump “at least half a dozen times” during the negotiations.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, said the two sides discussed “the Strait of Hormuz, the nuclear issue, war reparations, the lifting of sanctions, and the complete end of the war against Iran and in the region.” He acknowledged that “on two or three important issues, views were far apart” but said “no one had such an expectation” of a single-session breakthrough.

“Diplomacy never ends”

Esmaeil Baghaei

Tehran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz since the war began Feb. 28, choking off about 20% of the world’s oil supply. Iranian officials have demanded control of the waterway, payment of war reparations, the release of frozen assets abroad, including in Qatar and other foreign banks, and the right to collect transit fees from passing vessels. The U.S. insists on toll-free passage.

On the nuclear front, Iran has accelerated uranium enrichment to 60%, according to Iranian state media. Weapons-grade enrichment requires 90%. The 2015 nuclear accord, dubbed the ‘Iran Deal,’ which then-President Barack Obama negotiated, limited enrichment to 3.67% before Trump withdrew from the deal three years later.

Humanitarian Gesture

The Iranian delegation arrived in Islamabad on Friday dressed in black, mourning the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and others killed in the war. They carried shoes and bags of children killed during the bombing of a school next to a military compound, the Iranian government said. The Pentagon has said the strike is under investigation, but Reuters has reported that military investigators believe the U.S. was probably responsible.

Israel Presses Lebanon Campaign, Hezbollah Responds

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear that Jerusalem sees the war as far from over. “The campaign is not yet over,” he said in a televised address on Saturday. “Iran is begging for a ceasefire. The regime of terror is deeply weakened.” He rejected any extension of the truce to Lebanon.

Hours after the ceasefire took effect Wednesday, Israeli strikes killed more than 300 people across Lebanon in a single day. The death toll has reached 2,055, according to the Health Ministry. Hezbollah has launched multiple rocket attacks on Israeli positions since the truce began, targeting Karmiel, Kiryat Shmona, and other locations.

Death Toll and International Reactions

The war has killed more than 3,000 people in Iran, 2,055 in Lebanon, and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Infrastructure damage spans half a dozen countries.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, questioned Trump’s blockade strategy, telling CNN:

“I don’t understand how blockading the Strait is somehow going to push the Iranians into opening it.”

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong called the lack of an agreement “disappointing” and urged a continuation of the ceasefire. “The priority now must be to continue the ceasefire and return to negotiations,” she said.

Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who mediated pre-war talks, called for an extension of the truce. “Success may require everyone to make painful concessions,” he wrote on X, “but this is nothing as compared to the pain of failure and war.”

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar urged both sides to uphold the ceasefire. “It is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to the ceasefire,” he said. For now, the truce holds, but with deep distrust and no clear path forward, the region remains on edge.