An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said disagreement on “two or three key points” prevented a deal with the United States in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Esmaeil Baqaei told state broadcaster IRIB on Sunday (12) that the two sides reached an agreement on some issues, but that there was a “divergence of views” on other issues.
US Vice President JD Vance had previously identified Tehran’s lack of a firm commitment to renouncing nuclear weapons as a key issue.
Although Iranian state media reported that, Baqaei took a less definitive tone in the interview, saying that “diplomacy never ends.”
“There should be no expectation that we could reach an agreement in a single session. I don’t think anyone had that expectation,” he said.
Baqaei said he was confident Iran would maintain contact with , and “other friends in the region,” although he did not say whether Tehran planned to continue talks with the United States.
Negotiations ended without an agreement
Earlier, US Vice President JD Vance stated that Iranian negotiators refused to accept the terms proposed by the US for an agreement.
“We’ve been at this for 21 hours and we’ve had several substantive discussions with the Iranians. That’s the good news,” Vance said at a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan.
According to him, the Americans were “quite flexible” in the proposal.
“The president told us, ‘You need to come here in good faith and do everything you can to reach an agreement.’ We did that and, unfortunately, we were unable to move forward,” said the vice president.
Vance suggested that the main point of contention was Iran’s refusal to abandon its nuclear program.
“We leave here with a very simple proposal, an agreement that is our final and best offer… we will see if the Iranians will accept it,” he said.
Moments after the statements, Vance left the country for the United States.
On the other hand, Iranian state media blamed US demands for preventing “a common framework and agreement” after talks in Islamabad failed to result in a deal.
“Negotiations between the Iranian and American teams ended a few minutes ago and, due to what is described as overzealousness and US ambitions, the two sides were unable to reach an agreement,” a Tasnim correspondent reported this Sunday (12), in Islamabad, according to the agency.
