US Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday that talks with Iran had failed to produce a deal, saying he was leaving after presenting a “final and better offer”.
Vance signaled that he was still giving Iran time to consider the offer from the United States, which on Tuesday said it would halt attacks with Israel for two weeks pending negotiations.
“We leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer. We’ll see if the Iranians accept it,” Vance told reporters after 21 hours of talks in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
Vance said the core disagreement was over nuclear weapons. Iran insists it is not pursuing an atomic bomb, and the United States and Israel bombed sensitive Iranian sites both in the war that began on February 28 and last year.
“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 means that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vance said.
“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 to.”
Vance, in a brief speech at a luxury hotel in Islamabad where the two sides have been meeting, did not highlight the dispute over another key issue, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage through which one-fifth of the world’s oil passes.
He insisted that President Donald Trump, who said on Saturday in Washington that he did not care whether the two sides signed a deal, had adjusted to the talks.
“I think we were flexible enough. We were accommodating enough. The president told us, you have to come here in good faith and do your best to get a deal.
“We did that and, unfortunately, we weren’t able to make any progress.”
(cs)
