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Vance says U.S. has not reached agreement with Iran during peace talks in Pakistan

Published: 12 Apr. 2026, 12:20 Updated: 12 Apr. 2026, 14:35

U.S. Vice President JD Vance waves as he boards Air Force Two after attending talks on Iran in Islamabad on April 12. [AFP/YONHAP]

U.S. Vice President JD Vance has said the United States did not reach an agreement with Iran during peace talks in Pakistan, stressing that Washington needs to see an "affirmative' commitment by Tehran not to seek a nuclear weapon.

Vance made the remarks during a press availability in Islamabad on Sunday, after 21 hours of negotiations with Iran, which marked the two countries' highest-level in-person talks since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979.

“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement. I think that's bad news for Iran much more than it's bad news for the United States of America," he said. "So we go back to the United States, having not come to an agreement."

During the marathon talks, the U.S. side made "very clear" its "red lines" and what it was willing to accommodate, Vance noted.

“We've made that as clear as we possibly could, and they have chosen not to accept our terms," he said.

Vance reiterated U.S. President Donald Trump's "core goal" to deny Iran any pathway to nuclear arms.

“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," he said.

“That is the core goal of the president of the United States, and that's what we've tried to achieve through these negotiations," he said.

The negotiations in Pakistan proceeded amid a two-week cease-fire that was announced on Tuesday.

Vance, Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, represented the U.S. side in the talks, while the Iranian delegation included Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Yonhap