Here's the latest
• No agreement: US Vice President JD Vance says no agreement was reached with Iran after marathon talks in Pakistan. Iran would not commit to forgoing a nuclear weapon, Vance said. Iran’s foreign ministry told state media that disagreement over “two, or three” key issues prevented a deal.
• Next steps for Iran: While state media reported that Tehran currently has no plans for another round of negotiations, its foreign ministry spokesperson struck a less definitive tone, saying “diplomacy never comes to an end.”
• Pakistan’s response: Islamabad “has been and will continue” to play its mediator role, says Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar after the talks concluded.
• Questions remain: The failure to yield a deal throws the ceasefire into doubt, and without Iran’s commitment to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, global energy supplies will continue to be throttled.
Failure of US-Iran talks a blow to hopes of finding an off-ramp to crisis
We watched the sun go down in Islamabad and then come up again as these marathon talks went on. To end without a deal marks a fundamental blow to nascent hopes of finding an off-ramp to this crisis.
CNN’s Nic Robertson explains how 21 hours of peace talks between the US and Iran in Islamabad failed to broker a deal.
These were meetings of huge consequence –– the highest-level talks between US and Iranian officials since the formation of the Islamic Republic in 1979 –– and it’s hard to underestimate just how complex the discussions have been.
Beyond what was said in the room, technical papers were exchanged and reviewed repeatedly. But the two sides were simply too far apart, not just in substance, but in style and temperament. The respective delegations went into these talks with vastly different approaches: US Vice President JD Vance appeared to be after a relatively quick solution after the implementation of a two-week ceasefire, but Tehran typically moves much slower, negotiating over the long term.
With Vance saying America has put forward its “best and final” offer, the ball now seems to sit firmly in the Iranian court. And if there are going to be more talks, Iran will have to change its position somehow.
In photos: Vance leaves Pakistan after US-Iran talks end with no agreement
US Vice President JD Vance departed Pakistan on Air Force Two on Sunday, heading back home after no deal was reached with Iran to end the war.
The Iranian delegation has also left Islamabad, state media reported.
Both sides were in marathon negotiations that began on Saturday and ran through the night into Sunday morning.
"Two, or three key issues" prevented a deal, Iran's foreign ministry says
A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry says disagreement on “two, or three key issues” prevented a deal with the United States in Islamabad.
Esmaeil Baqaei told state broadcaster IRIB on Sunday that the two sides did reach agreement on some issues but said there was a “gap in viewpoints” on other matters. US Vice President JD Vance earlier identified the lack of a firm commitment from Tehran to forgo a nuclear weapon as a key issue.
While Iranian state media has reported that Tehran currently has no plans for another round of negotiations, Baqaei struck a less definitive tone in the interview, saying “diplomacy never comes to an end.”
Baqaei said he was confident Iran would remain in contact with Pakistan, the mediator of the talks, and with “other friends in the region,” though he did not say if Tehran planned to continue talking to the United States.
Pakistan vows to press on as mediator between Iran and the US
Pakistan will continue to mediate between Iran and the United States after marathon talks in Islamabad concluded without a deal, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said Sunday.
Dar said he and army chief Asim Munir helped mediate several rounds of “intense and constructive negotiations between the two sides,” which ended Sunday morning local time.
He also thanked the US and Iran for responding to Pakistan’s earlier request for “an immediate ceasefire in the region” and for accepting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s invitation for holding peace talks in Islamabad.
Tehran not planning for further negotiations, says Iranian media
Iran currently has “no plan for a next round of negotiations,” reported Iran’s state-affiliated Fars news agency, citing a source close to the negotiating team on Sunday.
“Iran is in no hurry, and until the US agrees to a reasonable deal, there will be no change in the status of the Strait of Hormuz,” Fars reported the source as saying.
Marathon talks between the two sides in Islamabad overnight failed to reach a deal to end the war.
US Vice President JD Vance said the outcome was “bad news” for Iran, while Iran’s former Vice President Ataollah Mohajerani told Fars it was “worse news is for the United States.”
“The US had proposed negotiations, arranged a mediator, and agreed to Iran’s ten conditions for talks, but it sought to achieve at the negotiating table what it had failed to gain on the battlefield,” Mohajerani said.
The Iranian delegation left Islamabad around midnight ET, state media reported.
Here's what Vance said after no deal was reached in US-Iran talks
US Vice President JD Vance departed Pakistan on Sunday after no deal was reached with Iran to end the war. Here’s what he said at a news conference.
Vice President JD Vance said marathon talks with Iran did not result in an agreement to permanently end the war.
No agreement: The talks, which began on Saturday local time in Islamabad and ran through the night into Sunday morning, did not yield a deal to permanently end the war.
US gave its “final and best offer”: Vance said Iranian negotiators refused to accept US terms for a deal, which he insisted had been “quite flexible.”
On Tehran’s nuclear program: Iran did not commit to forgo building a nuclear weapon after hours of negotiations, according to the vice president.
Communication with administration: Vance said that he spoke with President Donald Trump “consistently” during the talks. He said he also spoke with other top officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, and Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command.
Meanwhile, Iranian state media blamed the failure of the talks on the US’ “excessive” demands.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Kaanita Iyer, Casey Gannon and Laura Sharman contributed reporting.
Iran holds more cards than US with "terrifying capacity," says former Middle East negotiator
Former State Department Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller said the Iranians “hold more cards than the Americans” after 21 hours of talks between the US and Iran ended without an agreement.
“They are clearly in no hurry to make concessions,” Miller told CNN, suggesting that Iran appeared to be operating on a slower timeline than the US.
“It seems to me they still have the highly enriched uranium. They’ve demonstrated they’ve weaponized geography, they control and now manage the Strait of Hormuz. The regime has survived.”
Miller said he believed Iran would rather risk returning to US and Israeli military strikes than walk away from negotiations empty handed.
Future of war remains an open question with no deal in hand after US-Iran talks
Vice President JD Vance’s declaration that 21 hours of peace talks with Iran failed to yield a deal raises a host of questions about the future of the conflict.
It appeared to throw into doubt the two-week ceasefire that began Tuesday. Without a commitment from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, global energy supplies will continue to be throttled.
President Donald Trump had promised before the ceasefire took effect that Iran’s “whole civilization will die” if the country’s leaders did not agree to a deal. But it’s not clear he has much appetite for resuming a war that has become deeply unpopular among Americans, and which he claims the US has already won.
Vance, during his appearance in Islamabad, did not say what would happen now that talks seem to have stalled. He suggested Iran could still return to accept the United States’ “final and best offer,” but he did not preview any future negotiations to bridge the differences.
Trump, meanwhile, professed earlier Saturday not to care how the negotiations turned out.
“Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me,” he said, claiming the US had already defeated Iran militarily.
Meanwhile: Trump attended UFC fight in Florida, Rubio seen whispering to him
While trilateral in-person talks between the US and Iran took place in Pakistan, President Donald Trump attended a UFC fight in Miami.
After Trump entered the arena, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was seen whispering to the president from nearby seats, according to reporters traveling with Trump and video from the event.
The two appeared to exchange a few words before Trump turned to the crowd behind him and pumped his fist while smiling.
Trump briefly spoke to reporters earlier on Saturday while departing for Miami. When asked how negotiations were going in Pakistan, Trump said it “makes no difference to me” whether a deal is reached between the US and Iran.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was later shown on the big screen at the UFC fight, moments after Vice President JD Vance announced that no deal had been reached with Iran.
What we know about Iran's sea mines
Iran began laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz in March, according to sources familiar with US intelligence reporting on the issue.
Two US Navy guided missile destroyers have now begun clearing ordnance in the critical waterway, according to US Central Command.
Last month, CNN’s Sara Sidner broke down the different kinds of mines in Iran’s arsenal:
For context: Iran has laid mines near the Strait of Hormuz before, during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. One of them struck a US warship, the USS Samuel B. Roberts.
The ship suffered substantial damage, and the Reagan administration retaliated by damaging or sinking three Iranian warships and three oil platforms, drastically reducing Tehran’s ability to engage in the gulf.
CNN’s Natasha Bertrand and Issy Ronald contributed to this report.
Two US Navy vessels begin clearing mines in Strait of Hormuz, military says
Two Navy guided missile destroyers began clearing mines in the Strait of Hormuz, as some ships are still unable to pass through the critical waterway despite the ceasefire, US Central Command said Saturday.
The USS Frank E. Peterson and USS Michael Murphy “transited the Strait of Hormuz and operated in the Arabian Gulf as part of a broader mission to ensure the strait is fully clear of sea mines previously laid by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps,” CENTCOM said in a post on X.
“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.
While the effort attempts to solve the threat from mines, Iran could still launch missiles, which combined with the mines have made it harder for the United States or others to defend vessels or to secure the strait militarily.
President Donald Trump said earlier Saturday in a post on Truth Social that the US is “starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the World.”
CNN has reported that since the ceasefire was reached earlier this week, only around 30 ships have passed through the strait.
CNN’s Riane Lumer, Lauren Kent and Annette Choi contributed to this post.
