Agreeing to disagree

After 21 hours of extended peace talks that covered substantial matters substantially, the United States and the Iran delegations in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 11 and 12, could not agree on anything except to disagree.

The US delegation led by Vice President JD Vance, a Yale-educated lawyer and former senator, went home literally empty-handed, except for the peace flowers given to them by the hosts Pakistanis. “We’ve made very clear what our red lines are,” he told reporters, “what things we’re willing to accommodate them on…They have chosen not to accept our terms.”

Iran’s delegation leader, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the parliament and an influential military commander, said the US failed to gain Tehran’s trust despite their raising “forward-looking” initiatives during lengthy negotiations. “Now it is time for it to decide whether it can earn our trust or not,” he said enigmatically, hinting the talks could resume during the remaining nine days of the 14-day ceasefire Donald Trump had declared. 

Vance and Ghalibaf talked face to face during the negotiations, described as cordial and calm, with the US vice president making calls to President Donald Trump of between half a dozen and a dozen. 

It was the highest-level dialogue between American and Iranian officials since the 1979 Iranian Revolution that declared America is the Great Satan who must be eliminated from the face of the earth, with Iranians routinely chanting “Death to America.” Israel, according to Iranian religious and revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979, is the Little Satan who likewise must be eliminated. So the fact that the Iranians have met the Great Satan in person under cordial and calm circumstances is a breakthrough. After 47 years of deadly hostility, 21 hours may not be enough just to build a bridge of understanding.

The US had wanted Iran to commit firmly that it would never develop a nuclear weapon or a nuclear bomb that is 90 percent enriched uranium. Despite bombings by the US and Israel since the Feb. 28, 2026 outbreak of Operation Epic Fury and the June 22, 2025 Operation Midnight Hammer bombing of Iran’s three nuclear sites, Tehran is believed to still possess 440 kilos of uranium of 60 percent enriched purity which, in a matter of weeks, could be 90 percent enriched to make six to 10 atom bombs.  The US wants the 440 kilos destroyed or surrendered to them.

Iran, of course, does not want to give up its ambition to be a nuclear power. Usually, when a country has nuclear bombs, like North Korea, the US hesitates to launch an invasion. Peace mediator Pakistan is a nuclear power too.

Under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), negotiated with the Obama administration, Iran committed to delay uranium enrichment to bomb quality for 15 years; plutonium enrichment for 20-25 years. Iran also agreed to “extraordinary and robust” monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), including inspections of undeclared, suspicious sites. The commitments were in exchange for the US unfreezing Iranian assets worth between $10 billion and $100 billion – money that could help resurrect Iran’s failing economy.

After President Trump launched Operation Epic Fury, Iran discovered to its delight an even more compelling leverage – control of the narrow Strait of Hormuz through which passes 20 percent of the world’s supply of oil and natural gas, along with key commodities gasoline, diesel, fertilizers (urea/ammonia), sulfur, methanol, helium and chemicals used in battery production. Suddenly, one country, Iran, could dictate whether the world could have an economic boom or a bust; energy, food, fertilizer and water shortages and whether the Middle East, with 50 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves and 40 percent of natural gas, could again be a region of stability, prosperity and economic dynamism. Given Iran’s newfound influence on global growth, who needs a nuclear bomb?

Intriguingly, both the US and Iranian delegations did not say if anything was agreed about the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The vital waterway was a sticking point in the talks, it was reported.

Before the Islamabad talks, the US had demanded that Iran immediately reopen the strait to all maritime traffic. Iran said it would do so only after a final peace deal.

Iran’s deputy parliament speaker Haji Babaei has said that the strait is a red line for Tehran. He says the strait is completely in Iran’s hands and “its tolls must be paid in rials.”

Naturally, Trump fumes. “The United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” he posted Sunday on his Truth Social social media site. He disclosed he had instructed the Navy to interdict all ships that have paid a toll to Iran for traversing the strait, calling Tehran’s expanded control of the waterway “EXTORTION.”

Per The New York Times, by early Sunday, three main sticking points remained: the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz; the fate of nearly 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium and Iran’s demand that about $27 billion in frozen revenues held abroad be released.

Despite the deadlock in Islamabad, many observers remain optimistic that a deal could still be worked out.

Notes the BBC: “Calling this marathon negotiating session a failure belies the scale of the challenge in narrowing wide gaps on complex issues ranging from age-old suspicion about Iran’s nuclear program to new challenges this war has thrown up – most of all Iran’s control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, whose closure is causing economic shocks worldwide.

“To do a deal, they also needed to overcome a deep chasm of distrust.

“A day ago, it wasn’t even certain the two sides would meet, and even more, sit down in the same room. A longstanding political taboo was broken.”

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