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ISLAMABAD — <\/span>The United States and Iran failed to reach an agreement at the end of historic, face-to-face talks after the U.S. said Tehran refused to commit to not developing a nuclear weapon, leaving uncertainty over a fragile, two-week ceasefire.<\/p>\n Vice President JD Vance, who led the U.S. delegation, said the talks lasted 21 hours in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad but in the end they did not see \u201can affirmative commitment\u201d from Iran \u201cthat they will not seek a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n Vance\u2019s comments did not indicate what will happen after the 14-day ceasefire initially agreed to by the U.S., Iran and Israel, but Pakistani mediators called on the U.S. and Iran 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 U.S. in the coming days.<\/p>\n Iran did not immediately provide an official comment.<\/p>\n The discussions in Islamabad began Saturday, a few days after the fragile ceasefire was announced as the war<\/a> that has killed thousands of people and shaken global markets entered its seventh week<\/a>. <\/p>\n Vance said he remained in constant communication with U.S. 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. \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 Adm. Brad Cooper, head of the United States Central Command.<\/p>\n \u201cWe 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. \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 While the talks were being conducted in Islamabad, the U.S. military said two destroyers transited the Iran-gripped Strait of Hormuz<\/a> ahead of mine-clearing work, a first since the war began. Iran\u2019s state media, however, said the joint military command denied that.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re sweeping the strait. Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me,\u201d Trump told journalists as talks continued and the time approached 2 a.m. in Islamabad. He called negotiations \u201cvery deep.\u201d Iranian state TV noted what it called \u201cserious\u201d differences.<\/p>\n The U.S. delegation led by Vance<\/a> and the Iranian one led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf<\/a> 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<\/a>, whose health ministry said the death toll has surpassed 2,000.<\/p>\n Since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, the most direct U.S. contact had been in 2013 when President Barack Obama called newly elected President Hassan Rouhani to discuss Iran\u2019s nuclear program. Obama’s secretary of state, John Kerry, and counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif later met during negotiations toward the 2015 Iran nuclear deal \u2014 a process that lasted well over a year.<\/p>\n Now the far broader talks featured Vance, a reluctant defender<\/a> 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\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 U.S.-Israeli strikes that launched the war on Feb. 28 and releasing Iran\u2019s frozen assets.<\/p>\n The war has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 2,020 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. 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has proved its biggest strategic advantage in the war. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. Central Command commander Adm. Brad Cooper later said. The U.S. statement about the destroyers added: “Additional U.S. 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<\/a> 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 pressed ahead with strikes in Lebanon after saying there is no ceasefire there<\/a>. Iran and Pakistan have disagreed.<\/p>\n Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are expected to begin Tuesday in Washington, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun\u2019s office has said, after Israel’s surprise announcement authorizing talks<\/a> despite the countries lack of official relations.<\/p>\n But as thousands in Lebanon protested the planned negotiations on Saturday, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he had postponed a planned trip to Washington \u201cin light of the current internal circumstances.\u201d His absence should not affect talks as the first round is expected to be at the ambassadorial level.<\/p>\n Israel wants Lebanon’s government to assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, much like was envisaged in a November 2024 ceasefire<\/a>. But the militant group 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n The day the Iran ceasefire deal was announced, Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes<\/a>, killing more than 300 people in the deadliest day in Lebanon since the war began, according to the country’s Health Ministry.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Castillo reported from Beijing and Finley and Binkley from Washington. Josh Boak in Washington, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Cara Anna in Lowville, New York, and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n