The high stakes negotiations ended without success. US Vice President Vance leaves Pakistan with no Iran deal despite more than 23 hours of talks. Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force Two in Islamabad, Vance acknowledged his team’s failure to secure a breakthrough. He said the United States demanded firm guarantees that Iran would neither develop nuclear weapons nor acquire nuclear weapons capabilities. Iranian negotiators refused to accept those terms.

Iranian state linked media offered a different assessment. They claimed Trump’s team pushed for excessive demands, which prevented progress. The Islamabad meeting marked the first direct engagement between senior US and Iranian officials in more than a decade. It was also the highest level contact since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Reporters described the sessions as tense, with negotiations fluctuating between cautious optimism and sharp disagreement.

The US delegation included special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior adviser Jared Kushner. Iran sent Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. Vance did not address whether talks had advanced toward reopening the Hormuz strait. That waterway remains affected by the war and continues to influence global energy markets. For now, US Vice President Vance leaves Pakistan with no Iran deal, and both sides remain far apart.