Vice President JD Vance left talks in Islamabad on Sunday morning after telling Iran it had to abandon its nuclear ambitions and must agree to six key demands, according to a senior U.S. official.
They include retrieval of enriched uranium and ending funding for terrorist proxies.
“We have made very clear what our red lines are,” Vance said during a brief news conference before flying home. “And they have not chosen to accept our terms.”
Hours later, the U.S. official told the Washington Examiner that the Iranian side initially failed to understand that the core U.S. aim was to prevent Tehran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Vance, they said, set them straight with six clear red lines:
- An end to all uranium enrichment
- The dismantling of all major nuclear enrichment facilities
- The retrieval of highly enriched material
- Halting funding for terrorist proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis
- Reopening the Strait of Hormuz without tolls
- Signing up to a broader peace and security framework that includes regional allies
It is unclear if Iran agreed to one or more. But Vance left the talks without getting an agreement on all six.
Pakistan announced that a two-week ceasefire had been agreed to on Tuesday. Vance arrived in the country’s capital for face-to-face talks with Iranian negotiators on Saturday.
The official said the marathon meeting was tough, but that it developed into “a friendly and productive exchange of proposals.”
Vance concluded that the Iranian team failed to understand just how weak their position was. As a result, he delivered a final offer and left.
In the meantime, the White House national security team and President Donald Trump laid out a plan to break the Iranians’ stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump announced on Sunday morning that the U.S. Navy would blockade the strait.
The president also used a post on Truth Social to say that the United States will take action against any vessel in international waters that had paid a toll to Iran, and would begin destroying mines laid in the busy waterway, used by about 20% of global energy supplies.
“No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,” Trump wrote, adding: “Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!”
In an interview with Fox News, Trump also expressed optimism that a deal would still be reached, despite the deep divide over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
“It was a good meeting yesterday, really, a good meeting, except for one problem — and it’s 95%,” he said. “They want to have nuclear weapons. It’s not going to happen.”
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Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker who led his country’s negotiating team, said Trump’s new threats change nothing.
“If you fight, we will fight, and if you come forward with logic, we will deal with logic,” he said, in comments published by state media.