TEHRAN – Excessive and irrational demands from the United States during the marathon talks in Islamabad brought the negotiations between Iranian and American negotiators to a failure.

The talks followed two weeks of ceasefire between Iran and the US mediated by Pakistan.

Vice President JD Vance, the top US negotiator, said negotiations had failed to immediately produce an agreement. Before leaving Islamabad, he told reporters Iran had “chosen not to accept our terms.”

Calling the US offer “final and best,” Vance added, “We’ll see if the Iranians accept it.”

Vance’s remarks drew a sharp response from former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who said the US is seeking to dictate terms to Iran. Wring on social media, Zarif said it was “not too late” for the United States to learn that it “can’t dictate terms to Iran.” 

The US wants Iran to abandon its control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of global oil and gas supplies passes, and terminate its peaceful nuclear program. 
It also wanted Iran to give up its possession of nearly 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent without giving any tangible concessions in return. Further, it refused to unfreeze about $27 billion of Iranian revenues held abroad. The American side also rejected to pay reparations for damage from six weeks of airstrikes on Iran. 

On the total lifting of illegal sanctions, the US just said it could happen slowly.

Though Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s uranium stockpiles were the mjaor sticking points, they can be easily resolved. If the US and Israel stop their illegal war on Iran forever and Washington provides guaranteed assurances that no attack will take place on Iran, the Strait will return to its previous state.  However, as media reported, if the US seeks “management of the security of the Strait of Hormuz on their own terms” it would be impossible to bridge the gaps because the northern part of the narrow Strait falls within Iran’s territorial waters, not international waters. 

Also, on the uranium stockpiles, Iran had already put forward proposals to dilute the highly enriched uranium. 

However, neither Vance nor Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf ruled out another round of negotiations before the two-week ceasefire expires on April 21.
In a statement on social media, Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, said Iran entered the talks with deep mistrust of the US

 “Before the talks I insisted that we had the goodwill and the necessary determination, but due to the two previous wars we don’t trust the other side,” he pointed out. 

He said the US had been “unable to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation in this round of talks,” suggesting, “Now it is time for it to decide whether it can earn our trust or not.”

The US and Israel launched surprise attacks on Iran during the talks, first in June 2025 and in Feb. 28. 

It is clear that striking a deal in a single round of talks was highly unlikely. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, said, “Naturally, we should have never expected to reach a deal in one session. We will continue to work to bring the two views of Americans and Iranians closer together.”

What is evident is that the US must give concessions to Iran, instead of putting forward illogical demands.

Quoting two Iranian officials familiar with the talks, the New York Times said the United States had demanded that Iran immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all maritime traffic.

Iran refused to give up its leverage over the critical choke point for oil tankers, saying it would do so only after a final peace deal, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The US side also wanted Iran to curtail its missile program, an illogical demand to make the country quite vulnerable to Israel’s attacks, especially as Netanyahu has openly called for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. In his newest remarks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted for war crimes in Gaza, has said the war with Iran is “not yet over”. 

Though Israel was not physically present in the talks, the American side mostly represented the wishes of the ultra-extremist Zionists in Israel and elsewhere. 

Some of Netanyahu’s allies have said that Vance’s statement on Iran’s nuclear program indicated that the United States and Israel were closely aligned. “The American insistence on preventing Iran from acquiring (what he called) nuclear weapons proves the complete coordination between the countries,” Miki Zohar, a government minister who belongs to Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, wrote on social media.

Win-win game entails concessions by two sides 

International relations experts and experienced diplomats have always been saying that negotiations entail “give and take” otherwise there will be no agreement.

“When two serious teams with an intention for a deal come to the table, it has to be a win-win for both. It is unrealistic to think we can come out of this without making any serious concessions; the same holds true for the Americans,” said Mehdi Rahmati, an analyst in Tehran, in a telephone interview.

Difficult options

The Times said the failure of the Islamabad talks leaves the Trump administration facing several unpalatable options: A lengthy negotiation with Tehran over the future of its nuclear program, or a resumption of a war that has already created the largest energy disruption in modern times.
Also, the negotiation appears to have not differed from the one in Geneva late February as Iran refused to bow down to Washington’s excessive demands.

Trump and his generals must also realize that more than 13,000 US airstrikes and more than 10,000 by Israel have failed to change Iran’s mind. Moreover, the public opinion in the US and the world is against the war.

Furthermore, the US and its allies now feel more militarily vulnerable as Iranian forces managed to fire volleys of ballistic missiles and drones at Israel and across parts of the Persian Gulf region for 40 days, depleting supplies of vital interceptors in a number of countries on the receiving end.

“The heavy loss of our great elders, dear ones, and fellow countrymen has made our response to pursue the Iranian nation’s interests and rights firmer than ever before,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Analysts believe that the illegal war has hardened Iran’s views, not loosened it. That is why resuming combat operations is not a particularly viable political choice for Trump. 

Trump’s war has already sent the price of gasoline soaring, and creating shortages of fertilizer and, among other critical supplies, helium for the production of semiconductors. 

Now control of the vital Strait of Hormuz is wrapped in Iran’s demands and it is something that the Trump has rewarded Iran with its reckless and illegal war on Iran with the provocation of Netanyahu and the Zionist regime’s American lobby. 

In view of these facts, the Trump administration has no choice other than seeking a face-saving exit route from the Iran quagmire.