Vice President JD Vance said the United States was unable to reach an agreement to end the war in Iran after a marathon meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, that saw U.S. and Iranian officials meet face-to-face, the first peace talks between the two nations in 47 years.
“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement, and I think that’s bad news for Iran, much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America,” Vance said at a press conference early Sunday.
A sticking point continued to be Iran’s refusal to commit to not developing nuclear weapons now or in the future, the vice president said.
“So we go back to the United States, having not come to an agreement, we’ve made very clear what our red lines are, what things we’re willing to accommodate them on, and what things we’re not willing to accommodate them on.”
Speaking earlier Saturday from the White House as he prepared to travel to Miami, Florida, President Donald Trump said America had already won despite any outcome of the negotiations.
“Regardless what happens, we win,” Trump said. “We totally defeated that country. And so let’s see what happens. Maybe they make a deal, maybe they don’t. From the standpoint of America, we win.”
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hosted the talks, led by Vance for the United States and Speaker of Parliament Mohammad B. Ghalibaf for Iran. The talks between the U.S. and Iran were the first direct negotiations since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late February.
The core U.S. delegation also included special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Iran’s delegation also includes Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi.
“We’ve made very clear what our red lines are, what things we’re willing to accommodate them on, and what things we’re not willing to accommodate them on,” said Vance. “We’ve made that as clear as we possibly could, and they have chosen not to accept our terms.”
As talks began Saturday, President Donald Trump said in a social media post that the U.S. is “clearing out” the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow channel through which a large amount of the world’s oil commerce flows. Traffic through the channel has been a key point of contention during ceasefire negotiations.
At least 13 U.S. service members have been killed in the war, which began when the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran in late February. Hundreds of U.S. military members have been injured. A top Iranian medical official cited by FOX Newssaid more than 3,000 people had been killed in Iran.
Iranian leaders want U.S. officials to affirm that the recently announced ceasefire includes Lebanon, where Iran’s ally Hezbollah faces heavy bombardments from Israel. They also want the U.S. to unfreeze sanctioned Iranian assets.
Direct negotiations between the two sides mark a significant step forward to end the war that began Feb. 28 when the United States and ally Israel launched strikes on Iran in an effort, they said, to eliminate the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Thousands of Iranians have died under U.S. and Israeli strikes but the Islamic republic has managed to leverage control over the Strait of Hormuz to drive up fuel prices around the world and tank the war’s popularity among Americans.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy
Vice President JD Vance said for the negotiations to be fruitful, the United States needed an “affirmative commitment” from Iran that it would not seek tools that would enable the country to quickly build a nuclear weapon.
“That is the core goal of the President of the United States, and that’s what we’ve tried to achieve through these negotiations,” said Vance.
The U.S. negotiating team did not see a fundamental commitment from the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon “not just two years from now, but for the long term,” said Vance.
“We haven’t seen that yet,” he said. “ We hope that we will.”
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy
Vice President JD Vance said while a number of substantive discussions with Iranians were held, an agreement was not reached after a marathon meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan.
“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement, and I think that’s bad news for Iran, much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America,” Vance said at a press conference early Sunday. “So we go back to the United States, having not come to an agreement, we’ve made very clear what our red lines are, what things we’re willing to accommodate them on, and what things we’re not willing to accommodate them on.”
Vance emerged from a historic peace meeting between U.S. and Iran that began on Saturday, and lasted for more than 21 hours, the vice president said.
The direct face-to-face meeting led by Vance and Speaker of Parliament Mohammad B. Ghalibaf for Iran, was facilitated by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The topics of discussion was expected to include the Strait of Hormuz, a key channel for 20% of the world’s oil supply which Iran took control of during the six-week war and Iran’s nuclear program.
The talks between the U.S. and Iran are also the first direct negotiations since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late February.
Mike Snider
Talks between the United States and Iran, with Pakistan working as a go-between, went into overtime, continuing into early Sunday morning in Islamabad, according to the White House.
Talks had been ongoing for 16 hours and were continuing, the White House said in an emailed response to USA TODAY Saturday night around 8:15 p.m. EDT, about 5:15 a.m. Sunday in Islamabad.
Pakistan is hosting Vice President JD Vance, along with special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as well as Iran’s delegation, which includes Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi.
Mike Snider
The upcoming Israel-Lebanon peace talks, expected to begin in Washington on Tuesday, April 14, come after Lebanon reached out, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday, Reuters reported.
“In the past month Lebanon turned to us several times to begin direct peace talks,” he said in a statement. “This has never happened to us in history, actually it happened once decades ago, but now they have turned to us, I have approved it but under two conditions we want to achieve to disarm of Hezbollah, and we want a true peace pact that will last.”
Netanyahu had promised to continue fighting the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, despite the upcoming peace talks.
“The campaign is not over yet but we can clearly state that we have historic achievements,” Netanyahu said in the statement. “I want to remind where we were, Iran tried to strangle us. Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Assad regime in Syria, the militia in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, Iran itself. They wanted to strangle us and we strangled them. They threatened us with destruction and now they are fighting to survive. We affected them and we have more to do. “
Ahead of the talks, the two sides have not agreed on the substance. Lebanon President Joseph Aoun said both sides had agreed to discuss announcing a ceasefire and setting a start date for bilateral talks under U.S. mediation. But Israel’s embassy in Washington said Israel had refused to discuss a ceasefire with Hezbollah and that the talks would constitute the start of “formal peace negotiations.”
Mike Snider
President Donald Trump, answering questions Saturday afternoon before boarding Marine One to head toward a UFC 327 match in Miami, Florida, said about the ongoing talks with Iran:
“We win, regardless. We’ve defeated them militarily. They’ve dropped a couple of water mines. … We’ve defeated all of their water boats, too.”
Peace talks between U.S. and Iranian leaders in Pakistan had lasted more than “15 hours and counting” Saturday and into early Sunday morning, according to a senior White House official.
“We are in very deep negotiations with Iran,” Trump said.
“Regardless what happens, we win,” Trump said. “We totally defeated that country. And so let’s see what happens. Maybe they make a deal, maybe they don’t. From the standpoint of America, we win.”
Earlier Saturday, Trump said many tanker ships are headed to the United States to transport oil and gas to other countries. Before departing he referenced that: “One of the things that’s happening is that folks are sailing up and heading out to our country, big, beautiful tankers, and we’re loading them up with oil and gas and everything else. Pretty, beautiful thing.”
Talks continued between Iranian and U.S. delegations in Islamabad on Saturday, with Pakistani officials acting as mediators. Here are some photos from the negotiations on April 11.
Lauren Villagran
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country’s campaign against Iran “is not over” even as the U.S. and Iran conducted peace talks in Pakistan.
The video statement of Netanyahu speaking and pointing to a mapof the region – with Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran colored in red – published late Saturday, April 11. Talks hosted by Pakistan between U.S. and Iranian officials were ongoing.
Netanyahu said, according to a citation in English by the Times of Israel, that Iran “wanted to strangle us, and we are strangling them.”
“We hit them, we still have more to do,” he said.
Lauren Villagran
The White House confirmed in-person negotiations involving the U.S., Iran and Pakistan were ongoing as of 1:21 p.m. ET.
The trilateral talks were continuing into the night in Islamabad, where it was 10:21 p.m. local time, as Pakistan hosted Vice President JD Vance and Iranian negotiators to chart an end to the war.
Lauren Villagran
In a vigil for peace, Pope Leo appealed to world leaders to choose dialogue over war.
“To them we cry out,” Pope Leo said during the April 11 vigil, “Stop! It is time for peace! Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation, not at the table where rearmament is planned and deadly actions are decided!”
The leader of the Catholic Church also urged the faithful and people around the world “to reject war, not only in word, but in deed,” according to the Vatican News Service.
Jeanine Santucci and Lauren Villagran
The U.S. military said on Saturday it has begun “setting conditions” for clearing mines from the Strait of Hormuz, and two Navy ships have passed through. U.S. forces, including underwater drones, will work on clearing the strait in the coming days, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
The USS Frank E. Peterson and USS Michael Murphy transited the strait “as part of a broader mission to ensure the strait is fully clear of sea mines,” CENTCOM said.
“Today, we began the process of establishing a new passage and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon to encourage the free flow of commerce,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM.
Iran dropped explosive mines haphazardly in the Strait of Hormuz, raising challenges on clearing them. Naval mines are among the simplest and cheapest weapons in Iran’s arsenal, according to the Stimson Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. They’re also the most disruptive.
President Donald Trump said earlier Saturday in a post on Truth Social, “The only thing they have going is the threat that a ship may ‘bunk’ into one of their sea mines… .” Trump said the United States was starting the process of “clearing” the strait.
Jeanine Santucci
President Donald Trump on Saturday, as peace talks were underway between U.S. and Iranian leaders in Pakistan, said the Strait of Hormuz will “soon be open.”
“The Strait of Hormuz will soon be open, and the empty ships are rushing to the United States to ‘load up,'” he said on his platform Truth Social.
Earlier, Trump said the United States was in the process of “clearing out” the strait. Trump and other officials haven’t revealed any specific timeline or details of the reopening. Iran’s blockage of the strait has become a major sticking point for peace negotiations between the countries.
Lauren Villagran
Vice President JD Vance is meeting face-to-face with Iranian officials, as Pakistan hosts the first direct peace talks between the two nations since Iran’s 1979 revolution.
The White House confirmed via email on April 11 that the U.S., Iran and Pakistan are holding a trilateral meeting, face to face.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf is his country’s top negotiator. The office of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier confirmed via social media that he had met with both Vance and Ghalibaf.
Lauren Villagran
The U.S. hasn’t agreed to release Iran’s frozen assets held in Qatar and other foreign banks, according to a senior U.S. official.
In a social media post, Iran’s top negotiator in Pakistan, Speaker of Parliament Mohammad B. Ghalibaf, demanded the release of Iran’s blocked assets before negotiations could begin.
The U.S. official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said reports of assets being released were false.
Jeanine Santucci
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Saturday that the United States has terminated green card status for relatives of Masoumeh Ebtekar, a former vice president in Iran and known internationally as “Screaming Mary” or “Sister Mary” since the 1979 hostage crisis.
Ebtekar was the English-speaking spokesperson for the Iranian students who held American hostages in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran for 444 days. She recently served as a vice president for women and family affairs in Iran.
Rubio said Saturday that green cards for her son, Eissa Hashemi, his wife Maryam Tahmasebi and their son were terminated and that they were arrested. They are in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending their removal from the United States, where they were previously lawful permanent residents, Rubio said.
“The Trump administration will never allow America to become a home for foreign nationals tied to anti-American terrorist regimes,” the State Department said in a statement.
Lauren Villagran
In a social media post, President Donald Trump said the U.S. is “clearing out” the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow channel through which a large amount of the world’s oil commerce flows.
“We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the world…” Trump wrote on his Truth Social.
Iran’s closure of the strait has choked the global market for crude oil, driving up gasoline prices in the United States. USA TODAY reached out to the White House for comment.
Lauren Villagran
With the global oil market still squeezed by supply, President Donald Trump made a pitch for “sweet” American crude oil.
“Massive numbers of completely empty oil tankers, some of the largest anywhere in the World, are heading, right now, to the United States to load up with the best and ‘sweetest’ oil (and gas!) anywhere in the World,” he said April 11 on his Truth Social platform.
The U.S. has long been a seller on the world market. In 2023, the United States exported about 4 million barrels per day of crude oil globally, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Lauren Villagran
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif confirmed he has met with the Iranian delegation, after meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
In a social media poston X, the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Office confirmed Sharif met with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian Parliament on April 11. The post followed one about Sharif’s sidelines meeting with Vance.
Pakistan is working as a go-between, facilitating peace talks between the U.S. and Iran.
Michael Loria
Diplomats from Israel and Lebanon will meet in Washington, D.C., “to discuss ceasefire negotiations,” the State Department said in a statement to USA TODAY.
The department’s confirmation of upcoming talks comes after the office of Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun announced the talks will take place Tuesday in Washington. The State Department declined to confirm whether talks will begin Tuesday.
According to Aoun’s office, the scheduling of upcoming talks comes after a three-way call Friday between Lebanon’s ambassador to the U.S., Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. and the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon.