JD Vance led the US delegation that also included Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. <\/span> Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nTrump said US warships would \u201cseek and interdict every vessel\u201d that had paid Iran since the start of the conflict and begin de-mining the central section of the strait, previously declared a \u201chazardous area\u201d by Tehran, although it is unclear how many mines have been laid.<\/p>\n
About 100 tankers have transited the strait since the US and Israel started bombing Iran, paying up to $2m each time for passage. Many were bound for China and India, carrying Iranian oil products, and chasing them down could complicate relations between the US and the importing nations.<\/p>\n
The US and Iranian delegations left Pakistan soon after the talks ended. Vance said he spoke with Trump at least half a dozen times during the talks, held during a 14-day ceasefire announced by the US, Israel and Iran overnight on 7 and 8 April.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to see an affirmative commitment that [Iran] will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,\u201d Vance said. \u201cThat is the core goal of the president of the United States, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ve tried to achieve through these negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, who led Tehran\u2019s negotiators, said he and his colleagues had offered \u201cconstructive initiatives\u201d while the US had been \u201cunable to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation in this round of negotiations\u201d.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s semi-official Tasnim news agency said \u201cexcessive\u201d US demands had hindered reaching an agreement, and the foreign ministry said more time was needed. \u201cNaturally, from the beginning we should not have expected to reach an agreement in a single session,\u201d the ministry\u2019s spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said, according to the state broadcaster IRIB.<\/p>\n
Pakistani mediators called on the US and Iran to refrain from renewing hostilities and said they would try to arrange a fresh round of talks. \u201cIt is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to the ceasefire,\u201d said Pakistan\u2019s foreign minister, Ishaq Dar.<\/p>\nIran\u2019s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (centre, left) met Pakistan\u2019s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif (centre, right), in Islamabad before the talks.<\/span> Photograph: Iranian foreign ministry\/EPA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nVance was accompanied by the US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner. They met Ghalibaf and the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, for several negotiating sessions at the Serena hotel in Islamabad, with Pakistan\u2019s army chief, Asim Munir, also present.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s delegation arrived on Friday dressed in black in mourning for the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and others killed in the war. They carried shoes and bags of children killed during the bombing of a school next to a military compound, the Iranian government said.<\/p>\n
A Pakistani source said the discussions, the highest-level direct contact between the US and Iran since 1979, were unpredictable in tone. \u201cThere were mood swings from the two sides, and the temperature went up and down during the meeting,\u201d a Pakistani source said after the first round.<\/p>\n
In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Trump threatened to restart the bombing of Iran if a deal could not be agreed, and threatened to target the country\u2019s water supply as well as its bridges and power generation.<\/p>\n
Trump said: \u201cThe only thing left, really, is their water, which would be very devastating to hit. I would hate to do it, but it\u2019s their water, their desalinisation plans, their electric generating plants, which are very easy to hit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The president was asked if gas and oil prices might be lower by the US midterms in November, an indication that attacking Iran was not an economic mistake. Prices \u201ccould be the same or maybe a little bit higher,\u201d a non-committal Trump replied.<\/p>\n
In southern Lebanon, at least 11 people were killed and there were at least 30 Israeli strikes in the region, the country\u2019s state news service said.<\/p>\n
At the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV called for a ceasefire after his Sunday prayers and said he felt \u201ccloser than ever\u201d to Lebanon\u2019s people.<\/p>\n
The war, which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran six weeks ago, 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. It has caused lasting damage to infrastructure in half a dozen Middle Eastern countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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