- 2 days ago
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00US and Iranian delegations meeting in Pakistan have failed to reach a deal to end the conflict
00:06in the Middle East. After talks that ran through the night, the US Vice President J.D. Vance said
00:11the Iranians had not accepted what he called the US's final offer. Iranian media blamed what it
00:16called unreasonable demands by the US. Our South Asia correspondent Azadeh Mishiri is in Islamabad.
00:23This is what happens. The peace talks, the negotiation talks in Islamabad, Pakistan between
00:31United States and Iran are not happening. It's been cancelled.
00:36The US Vice President J.D. Vance left in the early hours of the morning after he said that the
00:43United
00:43States had needed a fundamental commitment from Iran not to develop nuclear weapons. Iran, for its part,
00:50has called the US demands unreasonable. Now, what has actually been achieved here in Pakistan?
00:58Our correspondent Joe Inwood has this report on high-stakes.
01:01This is what happened. US and Iran failed to reach agreement at peace talks. What it is. J.D. Vance
01:10came to front and telling us what really happens. They are two of the best men who went to Islamabad,
01:18Pakistan as a US official.
01:21Talks that seem to have reached an impasse.
01:25After 21 hours of negotiations, the US Vice President left without a deal. The face-to-face
01:31meeting had been historic, but may be remembered as a failure of diplomacy. J.D. Vance had arrived
01:38in Pakistan for talks with the Speaker of Iran's Parliament and Foreign Minister, trying to bring
01:44more than a month of fighting to an end. The press were kept well away amidst heavy security.
01:49No one was saying much.
01:54An intense struggle is underway on the diplomatic front. I assure our good people that we will
01:59use all our capacities to consolidate our country's achievements and to defend Iran's existence.
02:06This is what really happens, guys. J.D. Vance said Iran choose not to accept our terms. That
02:14is the main cause. We are not going with their own terms.
02:18After 40 days of fighting and nearly 50 years of hostility between the US and Iran, there was
02:25a lot to discuss. For Iran, avoiding a repeat of the destruction of the last month was high
02:32up their agenda. They want guarantees it will not happen again.
02:36Top of the US agenda is the reopening of this vital waterway, the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has
02:43selectively but effectively blocked it. It's given them huge
02:48As we know already that the Strait of Hormuz is open but then again closed because of the
02:54violation of ceasefire by Israeli government side.
03:00...leverage that they did not have before the war. Iran wants something very different
03:05here. International recognition of its rights over the Strait, maybe including the ability
03:11to charge tolls to pass. Yesterday, the US claimed two naval destroyers had got through
03:17clearing mines. Iran denied that, saying they'd driven the warship off.
03:22There are many other issues.
03:25Okay, so the demands from the US. United States, President Donald Trump said that no nuclear weapon
03:34is our 99% priority, that Iran accessed no nuclear weapons.
03:40For the US, nuclear weapons, Iran's ballistic missiles, as well as their regional proxies. While Iran wants
03:48reparations for the damage done by the war, the release of frozen assets, as well as an end to attacks
03:54on its allies in the region.
03:55And that final point looked like it could derail talks before they even began. Israel continued its attacks on the
04:03Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, even as the delegations were meeting in Pakistan. The health ministry here says more than 2
04:10,000 people have now been killed. As the talks went into the night, this was President Trump's assessment.
04:16This is what President Donald Trump said about the talks failure between the negotiations. And here it is.
04:25Regardless what happens, we win. We've totally defeated that country. And so let's see what happens. Maybe they make a
04:34deal, maybe they don't. From the standpoint of America, we win.
04:39Then an update. After 21 hours of talks, the two sides have failed to reach a deal. The US said
04:47the main sticking point was nuclear weapons.
04:49They really talked for 21 hours and they failed to be rich.
04:56We have not reached an agreement. And I think that's bad news for Iran much more than it's bad news
05:01for the United States of America.
05:02So we go back to the United States having not come to an agreement. We've made very clear what our
05:08red lines are.
05:10As the US Vice President drove to the airport, Iranian state media said negotiations broke down due to unreasonable demands.
05:18These talks began amidst a spiraling war and apocalyptic threats. If their failure leads to a return to fighting.
05:26Yes, this is the main thing. Now they are fighting again. They are into war again. War is not at
05:35hold. War is happening and at double speed, double pace right now.
05:41Peace talks lasted 21 hours in Islamabad.
05:45...quences will be felt around the world.
05:48Joe Inwood, BBC News.
05:52Well, as Joe said there, the talks went on long into the night, but also long into the early hours
05:57of the morning.
05:57We were all waiting for an update. And here's more of what J.D. Vance had to say when that
06:02finally came.
06:03We've been at it now for 21 hours and we've had a number of substantive discussions with the Iranians. That's
06:11the good news.
06:12The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement. And I think that's bad news for Iran much
06:17more than it's bad news for the United States of America.
06:19So we go back to the United States having not come to an agreement. We've made very clear what our
06:25red lines are, what things we're willing to accommodate them on and what things we're not willing to accommodate them
06:29on.
06:30And we've made that as clear as we possibly could. And they have chosen not to accept our terms.
06:37This is what Vice President J.D. Vance has to say. This literal statement is being done into the Pakistan.
06:47Yes, this is Pakistan field.
06:50Questions?
06:51Sir, Nick Robinson from CNN. Precisely what have they rejected here? Can you help us understand it a little bit?
07:00Well, I won't go into all the details because I don't want to negotiate in public after we've negotiated for
07:0621 hours in private.
07:07But the simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear
07:13weapon and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon.
07:19That is the core goal of the President of the United States and that's what we've tried to achieve through
07:23these negotiations.
07:23Again, their nuclear programs such as it is, the enrichment facilities that they've...
07:29They are enriching the nuclear things, okay? Uranium and all, they are saying they will at any cost,
07:39Iran will at any cost have a nuclear weapon. They would be having a nuclear weapon at any cost.
07:47They had before they've been destroyed. But the simple question is, do we see a fundamental commitment of will for
07:55the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon, not just now, not just two years from now, but for the
08:00long term?
08:01We haven't seen that yet. We hope that we will. Jen.
08:04Was there a framework on anything and also did the Iranian frozen assets come up and did you reach any
08:09conclusions on those frozen assets?
08:11We talked about all those issues, Jen. And we talked about a number of issues beyond that. And so certainly
08:16those things came up.
08:17But again, we just could not get to a situation where the Iranians were willing to accept our terms.
08:25Yes, this is the main thing. The terms U.S. has right now 99% top priority at the nuclear
08:32weapon.
08:33They are not processing it is the main thing. They are just denying that they do not possess nuclear weapons.
08:39I think that we were quite flexible. We were quite accommodating. The President told us, you need to come here
08:43in good faith and make your best effort to get a deal.
08:47We did that. And unfortunately, we weren't able to make any headway. Preston.
08:53Mr. Vice President, how often did you communicate with President Trump throughout the negotiations?
08:57There were reports that there were multiple rounds where there were breaks in between negotiations.
09:02How often did you communicate with the President throughout those rounds? And what was he saying as you were going
09:07through these negotiations that you said fell short?
09:09Yeah, obviously, we were talking to the President consistently. I don't know how many times we talked to him, a
09:14half dozen times, a dozen times over the past 21 hours.
09:16We obviously also talked to Admiral Cooper, to Pete, to Marco, to the entire national security team. We talked to
09:22Scott Bussin a number of times.
09:24So look, we were constantly in communication with the team.
09:27This is what it is happening. The team, the three people team here in Islamabad, Pakistan, constantly in communication with
09:36the U.S. top leader officials like Trump and all.
09:39Because we were negotiating in good faith. And we leave here and we leave here with a very simple proposal,
09:46a method of understanding that is our final and best offer.
09:51We'll see if the Iranians accept it. Thank you.
09:54Final and best offer there. Well, it was a long 21 hours since J.D. Vance had arrived, which meant
10:00that here in Islamabad, there was some hope that perhaps the two sides were seeing points of agreement or at
10:05least points they could work on.
10:06Our correspondent, Caroline Davies, our Pakistan correspondent, was there when J.D. Vance and the American delegation were leaving their
10:14hotel. Here's her take.
10:16OK, let's see what J.D. Vance said when he is leaving the horrible, go United States back at 8.
10:24The white building just behind me is the hotel where these talks were taking place.
10:28And in the moments after the press conference finished, we and other journalists ran from inside the conference center just
10:34across the road to this point here to see what was happening with the U.S.
10:36delegation. By the time we reached this point, there was already a convoy of cars lined up down the side
10:42of the hotel, including Pakistan security and the security that the American vice president travels with.
10:48That convoy moved off fairly quickly, including an American flagged car and away, taking the vice president and the rest
10:55of the delegation away from the hotel and away from Islamabad.
11:00That there was a palpable sense of disappointment in the hall when it was announced by Vice President J.D.
11:06Vance that there was no deal between the U.S. and Iran.
11:10I think many people thought that it was a very long shot to try to find some form of longer
11:15lasting peace settlement or some form of long...
11:18This is what it is, guys.
11:20There is no deal at all.
11:21This is what happened.
11:22On the U.S. side that Iran's regime was so weakened by weeks of war that they would be willing
11:28to make certain concessions.
11:30Perhaps that perception has now changed.
11:32Yes, they are not really weak right now.
11:36They have power.
11:36They are possessing powers.
11:38Let me show you what Iranian official leader officials are dead here.
11:42The Speaker of Parliament, he had said that one of their red lines is a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon
11:51as attacks continue against Hezbollah.
11:54Now he had said that was a red line, a precondition that had to be met before negotiations could even
11:59be made.
12:00So let's speak to Nick Beek, our correspondent in Jerusalem.
12:05Nick, it's good to have you.
12:07What does all of this mean for what's going on between...
12:11Nick is in Jerusalem, Israel.
12:13...Israel and Lebanon.
12:15Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said that he was looking ahead to potential peace talks on Tuesday.
12:21But may there be a recalculation there now?
12:25Good morning, Azadeh.
12:27Well, so far, no official reaction from the Israelis.
12:30There's been some reports in the Israeli media that they were an official source, unnamed, saying that they weren't surprised
12:38that these talks have ended without an agreement.
12:41OK.
12:41They saw Pakistan as not being an honest middleman in the midst of these discussions.
12:47Israel, of course, not invited to the negotiating table, even though it was shoulder to shoulder, as it saw itself,
12:53with the Americans in hitting Iran.
12:55So they didn't really want this process to exclude them any further.
13:00In terms of what happens next, you're absolutely right.
13:04What we've seen overnight is a continuation of what's been going over the past few days or so, certainly with
13:09the IDF, the Israeli military, hitting the south.
13:12This is a bad thing, OK?
13:14Israel officials, leaders are not even invited.
13:17And this is what is happening.
13:19Let me show you some last thoughts.
13:20Whether he intensifies attacks in Lebanon.
13:22It's worth pointing out, Azadeh, that as you said right at the start, the Israelis have said that what's going
13:28on between them and Hezbollah, a group, of course, that's backed by Iran.
13:33What's happening there in Lebanon is completely different from their strikes with the Americans on Iran.
13:40This is a completely different story, but they're trying to connect it and trying to, everybody like, Israel and all
13:48do not attack the Lebanon territory.
13:52Whether it's Hezbollah or not, they do not want Israel to attack Lebanon.
13:56If they have ended with this impasse, because it's the highest level face-to-face talks we've seen between the
14:03United States and Iran since the Islamic revolution.
14:07And this is very bad.
14:09They did not reach to any conclusion at all.
14:11Let me ask you two questions.어지ingo.
14:11blueprint of growth. What!
Comments