The United States and Iran ended a round of direct talks in Pakistan without reaching an agreement, leaving the future of a fragile two-week ceasefire in doubt.
Vice President JD Vance, who led the American delegation, said the negotiations in Islamabad lasted 21 hours but failed to produce what Washington considered the central requirement: a clear Iranian commitment not to pursue a nuclear weapon.
“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 after the talks. “That is the core goal of the president of the United States.”
Vance said the United States had presented what he called its “final and best offer” and that it remained to be seen whether Iran would accept it.
The collapse of the talks left unanswered what would happen once the 14-day ceasefire announced earlier by the United States, Iran and Israel expires. Pakistani officials, who mediated the meetings, urged both sides to preserve the truce and continue diplomacy.
“It is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to ceasefire,” Pakistan’s foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, said, adding that Islamabad would try to facilitate another round of talks in the coming days.
Iranian officials described the breakdown differently. Esmaeil Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said the talks failed because of differences over “two or three important issues.” Speaking on Iranian state television, he said the Strait of Hormuz had been among the subjects discussed, but he did not mention nuclear weapons.
The negotiations began on Saturday, days after the ceasefire was announced, as a war that began on Feb. 28 entered its seventh week. The conflict has killed thousands, damaged infrastructure across the Middle East and driven up energy prices.
Vance said he remained in close contact throughout the talks with President Donald Trump and senior officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command.
“We were negotiating in good faith,” Vance said.
The talks unfolded against continued military pressure in the region. Israel has kept up attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon, complicating efforts to preserve the broader truce. Lebanese officials say the death toll there has exceeded 2,000.
At the same time, the United States said two of its destroyers had passed through the Strait of Hormuz before mine-clearing operations, the first such transit since the war began. Trump told reporters that the United States was “sweeping the strait” and suggested that the operation would continue regardless of whether diplomacy succeeded.
Iranian state media disputed the American account, saying the country’s joint military command denied that such a transit had taken place.
Iran entered the talks with broad demands extending beyond the nuclear issue. Iranian state media said Tehran had insisted on reduced Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon before the discussions began. Members of Iran’s delegation said they had also raised compensation for damage caused by US-Israeli strikes, the release of frozen Iranian assets and guarantees against renewed attacks.
Iran’s delegation, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, was joined by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who had warned before the talks that Tehran approached the process with “deep distrust.” Araghchi also said Iran was prepared to retaliate if attacked again.
The negotiations were notable not only for their stakes but also for their format. Since Iran’s 1979 revolution, direct high-level contact between Washington and Tehran has been rare. The most significant previous episode came during the diplomacy that led to the 2015 nuclear agreement, a process that took more than a year.
This time, the agenda was far broader. In addition to the nuclear dispute, the talks touched on the Strait of Hormuz, regional fighting involving Hezbollah and the conditions for maintaining the ceasefire.
The war has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,000 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, according to figures cited by officials and state media. Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz has been one of its strongest sources of leverage. About a fifth of the world’s traded oil normally passes through the waterway, but only a small fraction of normal ship traffic has moved through it since the ceasefire took effect.
For now, diplomacy has produced only a pause in fighting, not a settlement. The talks in Islamabad showed that both sides remain willing to meet. They also made clear how far apart they still are.
