ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – APRIL 11: U.S. Vice President JD Vance (C) walks with Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Military Employees Subject Marshall Asim Munir (L), and Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and International Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar after arriving for talks with Iranian officers on April 11, 2026 at Islamabad, Pakistan. (Photograph by Jacquelyn Martin – Pool/Getty Photographs)
Pool | Getty Photographs Information | Getty Photographs
Vice President JD Vance mentioned early on Sunday in Pakistan that U.S. officers are leaving peace talks after the Iranian delegation refused to agree to not develop a nuclear weapon.
“We’ve got been at it now for 21 hours, and we have had quite a few substantive discussions with the Iranians. That is the excellent news,” he mentioned in a press convention following the talks. “The dangerous information is that we’ve not reached an settlement.”
The important thing sticking level, Vance mentioned, was on the problem of Iran’s unwillingness to surrender its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
“We have to see an affirmative dedication that they won’t search a nuclear weapon, and they won’t search the instruments that will allow them to shortly obtain a nuclear weapon,” he mentioned, noting it’s the “core aim” that President Donald Trump hoped to realize with the negotiations. “They’ve chosen to not settle for our phrases.”
The vice chairman mentioned he spoke with Trump “a half dozen occasions, a dozen occasions, over the previous 21 hours,” in addition to with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Adm. Brad Cooper, head of the U.S. Central Command.
“We had been continuously in communication with the staff as a result of we had been negotiating in good religion,” Vance mentioned, talking at a podium alongside particular envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
“We go away right here with a quite simple proposal, a way of understanding that’s our remaining and greatest provide. We’ll see if the Iranians settle for it,” he mentioned. A short while later, the vice chairman waved goodbye from the highest of the steps as he boarded Air Drive Two in Islamabad.
Numerous Iranian state media stories cited stark variations in negotiations for the breakdown within the talks, together with the removing of nuclear supplies from the nation and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Tasnim information company mentioned that “extreme” U.S. calls for had hindered efforts to succeed in an settlement.
The historic talks ended days after the delicate, two-week ceasefire was introduced. Vance’s feedback didn’t point out what would occur after that interval expired or whether or not the ceasefire would stay in place.
The Iranian delegation, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, mentioned with their U.S. and Pakistani counterparts the best way to advance the ceasefire already threatened by deep disagreements and Israel’s continued assaults in opposition to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose well being ministry mentioned the loss of life toll has surpassed 2,000.
The Iranian delegation arrived wearing black in mourning for late Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and others killed within the battle. They carried sneakers and luggage of some college students killed throughout the U.S. bombing of a college subsequent to a navy compound, the Iranian authorities mentioned. The Pentagon has mentioned the strike is below investigation.
“There have been temper swings from the 2 sides and the temperature went up and down throughout the assembly,” one Pakistani supply informed Reuters in reference to the primary spherical of talks.
For the U.S.-Iran talks, Islamabad, a metropolis of greater than 2 million individuals, was locked down with 1000’s of paramilitary personnel and armed forces troops on the streets.
U.S. destroyers transit the Strait of Hormuz
The peace talks passed off as two American warships transited by way of the Strait of Hormuz for the primary time because the begin of the battle. The U.S. Central Command mentioned the warships had been participating in a mission to clear the waterway of sea mines put in place by Iran.
The ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran that started Tuesday has come below pressure as Iran continues to dam most delivery site visitors by way of the strait, the world’s most crucial chokepoint for oil and gasoline provides.
U.S. Central Command mentioned that forces started setting circumstances for clearing mines within the strait, as two U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers performed operations. The usFrank E. Peterson and the united statesMichael Murphy transited the strait and operated within the Arabian Gulf as a part of a broader mission to clear sea mines beforehand laid by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned in a submit on X.
“At the moment, we started the method of creating a brand new passage and we are going to share this protected pathway with the maritime business quickly to encourage the free movement of commerce,” Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM, mentioned in an announcement.
“We’re sweeping the strait. Whether or not we make a deal or not makes no distinction to me,” U.S. President Donald Trump informed journalists as high-stakes talks continued into the evening and the time approached 2 a.m. in Pakistan.
Iran’s state media, nonetheless, earlier mentioned Iran compelled a U.S. navy ship that was making an attempt to cross the strait to show round. MS Now later reported that business maritime site visitors techniques displaying the united statesMichael Murphy crossing the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf weren’t dependable.
Late Saturday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that any try by navy vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz would be met with “a robust response.” Solely non-military vessels would be allowed to move below particular rules, the IRGC mentioned in an announcement carried by Iranian media.
Individually, a senior Iranian supply informed Reuters the U.S. had agreed to launch frozen property held in Qatar and different international banks, however a U.S. official instantly denied the report.
Tankers exit the Gulf by way of the strait
Three supertankers handed by way of the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, delivery information confirmed, marking what gave the impression to be the first vessels to exit the Gulf because the U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal.
Tehran’s blockade of the strait, a chokepoint for about 20% of worldwide oil and liquefied pure gasoline shipments, because the begin of the Iran battle on the finish of February, has disrupted international vitality provides and despatched oil costs hovering.
The Liberia-flagged Very Massive Crude Provider (VLCC) Serifos and China-flagged VLCCs Cospearl Lake and He Rong Hai, entered and exited the “Hormuz Passage trial anchorage” that bypasses Iran’s Larak Island on Saturday, LSEG information confirmed.
Every vessel is able to carrying 2 million barrels of oil.
Serifos, carrying crude loaded from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in early March, is anticipated to reach at Malaysia’s Malacca port on April 21, information from LSEG and analytics agency Kpler confirmed.
Cospearl Lake is laden with Iraqi oil and He Rong Hai is carrying Saudi crude, the identical information confirmed.
Each VLCCs are chartered by Unipec, the buying and selling arm of Chinese language vitality big Sinopec, in keeping with the information.
Trump’s frustration with Iran
Trump has expressed frustration with Iran persevering with to dam most delivery site visitors by way of the Strait of Hormuz.
In an announcement Tuesday night, Trump mentioned that the U.S. would comply with a two-week suspension of hostilities topic to Iran agreeing to an entire and instant reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
However since then, vessel site visitors by way of the strait stays almost as tightly throttled because it has been because the battle started on Feb. 28.
In a Fact Social submit on Thursday night, Trump fumed, “There are stories that Iran is charging charges to tankers going by way of the Hormuz Strait — They higher not be and, if they’re, they higher cease now!”
Iran “is doing a really poor job, dishonorable some would say, of permitting Oil to undergo the Strait of Hormuz,” the president wrote in a follow-up submit. “That’s not the settlement we’ve!”
Israel and Lebanon can have direct negotiations
Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are anticipated to start Tuesday in Washington, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s workplace mentioned Friday, after Israel’s shock announcement authorizing talks regardless of the nations’ lack of official relations.
However 1000’s in Lebanon protested the deliberate negotiations, and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam mentioned he had postponed a deliberate journey to Washington “in mild of the present inner circumstances.” It was not instantly clear what that meant for the talks.
Israel desires the Lebanese authorities to imagine duty for disarming Hezbollah, very similar to was envisaged in a November 2024 ceasefire. However it’s unclear whether or not Lebanon’s military can confiscate weapons from the militant group, which has survived efforts to curb its energy for many years.
Israel’s insistence that the ceasefire in Iran doesn’t embody a pause in its preventing with Hezbollah has threatened to sink the deal. The militant group joined the battle in help of Iran within the opening days. Israel adopted up with airstrikes and a floor invasion.
The day the Iran ceasefire deal was introduced, Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes, killing greater than 300 individuals within the deadliest day in Lebanon because the battle started, in keeping with the nation’s Well being Ministry.
Qatar to completely resume maritime navigation actions
Qatar’s Ministry of Transport introduced the complete resumption of maritime navigation actions efficient Sunday from 6 a.m. to six p.m. native time, extending the choice to “all classes of marine vessels and transport modes.”
The ministry urged operators in an announcement to adjust to security protocols.
It was not instantly clear whether or not the choice meant that Qatari vessels can be allowed to transit the Strait of Hormuz, which remained successfully closed.
Pope Leo blasts ‘delusion of omnipotence’ fueling battle
In his strongest phrases but, Pope Leo XIV denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” that’s fueling the U.S.-Israel battle in Iran and demanded that political leaders cease and negotiate peace.
Leo presided over a night prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica on the identical day the USA and Iran started face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan and as a fragile ceasefire held.
Historical past’s first U.S.-born pope did not point out the U.S. or Trump in his prayer, which was deliberate earlier than the talks had been introduced. However Leo’s tone and message appeared directed at Trump and U.S. officers, who’ve boasted of U.S. navy superiority and justified the battle in non secular phrases.
“Sufficient of the idolatry of self and cash!” Leo mentioned. “Sufficient of the show of energy! Sufficient of battle!”
Within the basilica pews was the archbishop of Tehran, Belgian Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu. The U.S. was represented within the diplomatic corps by its deputy chief of mission, Laura Hochla, the U.S. Embassy mentioned.
— Reuters and the Related Press contributed to this report
