Vance says Iran rejected US terms and no nuclear deal was reached

Vice President JD Vance said Sunday that high-stakes talks between the U.S. and Iran ended without a deal after Iranian officials refused to accept American terms.

Speaking during a press conference from the Serena Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, Vance said Iran has “chosen not to accept our terms.”

“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement,” Vance said. “And I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America.”

The vice president said talks with Iranian officials lasted 21 hours, describing them as “substantive discussions,” but adding the U.S. was unwilling to compromise on its “red lines.”

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“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 added. “And we’ve made that as clear as we possibly could, and they have chosen not to accept our terms.”

Digital’s Preston Mizell asked Vance if he had been in contact with President Donald Trump during the talks, and the vice president said he had been “consistently.”

“I don’t know how many times we talked to him — a half dozen times, a dozen times over the past 21 hours,” Vance said, adding that the U.S. team was also communicating with other members of the Trump administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

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Vice President JD Vance walks with Pakistan’s Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir, Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, U.S. Embassy Charge d’Affaires Natalie A. Baker, and Interior Minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi after arriving for talks with Iranian officials in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 11, 2026. (Jacquelyn Martin/Reuters)

“So, look, we were constantly in communication with the team because we were negotiating in good faith,” Vance said. “And we leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer. We’ll see if the Iranians accept it.”

Vance arrived in Pakistan early Saturday to lead high-stakes negotiations with Iran aimed at preserving a fragile ceasefire announced by Trump earlier this week and preventing a broader regional war.

Vance was joined by U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, as part of a senior delegation engaging Iranian officials in Islamabad.

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Vice President JD Vance spoke to reporters before boarding Air Force Two at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport on April 8, 2026, in Budapest, Hungary. The White House said Vance would lead the U.S. delegation in upcoming peace talks with Iran and was in Hungary supporting Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for April 12. (Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images)

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf were negotiating for Iran. 

While Vance declined to elaborate on which terms Iran rejected, he said the U.S. sought assurances that Iran would not develop a nuclear weapon.

“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,” Vance 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.”

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The talks came over a month after the U.S. launched Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28.

Digital’s Preston Mizell and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.