Iran, U.S. blame each other as talks end without a deal

Iran, U.S. blame each other as talks end without a deal

The United States and Iran ended face-to-face talks in Pakistan on Sunday without an agreement, each side keeping the onus on the other without narrowing their differences and leaving a fragile two-week ceasefire in the war in West Asia in doubt.

U.S. officials said the talks collapsed over Iran’s refusal to commit to abandoning the path to a nuclear weapon, while Iranian officials blamed the “U.S. overreach” for the breakdown of the talks without mentioning specific sticking points.

Neither side indicated what will happen after the truce expires on April 22. Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his country will try to facilitate a new dialogue in the coming days.

“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,” U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance said after the 21-hour talks. Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led the Iran delegation, said it was time for the U.S. “to decide whether it can gain our trust or not”.

Iran had very good initiatives to show goodwill in talks with the United States which led to progress in the negotiations, he said in comments carried by state media on Sunday. The Iranian Speaker did not mention the core disputes in his series of social media posts, though Iranian officials earlier said the talks fell apart over two or three key issues, blaming what they called U.S. overreach.

“It is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to cease fire,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister said.

Iran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons but has insisted on its right to a civilian nuclear programme. It has offered “affirmative commitments” in the past in writing, including in the landmark 2015 nuclear deal. Experts say its stockpile of enriched uranium, though not weapons-grade, is only a short technical step away.

Since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on February 28, it has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 2,020 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel, and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, and caused lasting damage to infrastructure in half-a-dozen West Asian countries. Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz has largely cut off the Persian Gulf and its oil and gas exports from the global economy, sending energy prices soaring.