00:0021 hours of peace talks in Islamabad, but no deal between the United States and Iran.
00:05The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement,
00:08and I think that's bad news for Iran much more than it's bad news for the United States of America.
00:12But was it realistic to expect both sides to settle their differences in just one session?
00:16I think we should not be expecting such a long-standing issue or a conflict to be resolved
00:23in a fortnight. They had a 21-hour negotiation that went on and on,
00:27but of course I think that too is insufficient in order to resolve a conflict that has lasted many, many
00:34years.
00:35The deal breaker for Washington was nuclear weapons.
00:38Vance told reporters that stopping Iran's nuclear capabilities had been the core goal.
00:42But the simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not
00:47seek a nuclear weapon and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve
00:53a nuclear weapon.
00:54The talks in Islamabad were never likely to be a success. Remember, it took nearly two years of
01:00diplomacy between 2013 and 2015 in Vienna just for Iran to agree to temporarily limit its nuclear program.
01:07Now we are starting a new chapter of trust. And let's build on that. Let's consider this everybody's achievement.
01:15For Tehran, the issue boils down to a lack of trust. Parliament Speaker Mohamed Bakul Khalibaf said that
01:22the U.S. side ultimately failed to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation in this round of negotiations.
01:27We know what they want for themselves, but we have yet to see where they are going to give up.
01:35You know, what is it that they want to give up to facilitate the other side? Because negotiations is obviously
01:42a process of give and take.
01:44Still, experts believe that negotiations between Washington and Tehran will continue and Pakistan will still play a role.
01:51If there's one thing which is very clear from the recent U.S.-Iran interaction in Islamabad, it is that both
01:58these sides do not want to go back to hostilities. That is a very encouraging sign. The Middle East,
02:05of course, is a very complex region and one cannot rule out the possibility of spoilers.
02:10And since I think some kind of guarantors are also being sought, especially by Iran, so I think that
02:18also is a big role that Pakistan can fill in the entire ceasefire and probably the probability of
02:24any kind of negotiations that may take place. While Washington and Tehran walked away without a deal,
02:30the Islamabad talks were still significant. It was the highest level meeting between the U.S. and Iran
02:35since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The two sides came to the negotiating table with
02:40very firm positions. They were trying to test each other's red lines. And with that in mind,
02:47I think these talks ended up accomplishing a lot more than one would have expected.
02:51The senior U.S. and Iranian officials came face to face with each other.
02:56For now, the fragile two-week ceasefire remains in place. But the war of words could still derail the
03:02situation. Just hours after the Islamabad talks ended, Donald Trump announced a U.S. naval blockade of
03:07the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about one-fifth of the world's oil supply. Iran has
03:12effectively shut the strategic waterway since the start of the war. Trump doubled down on his
03:17intentions in a phone interview with Fox News. Well, we're going to be blockading. It'll take a little
03:22while, but it'll be effective pretty soon. Iran's military fired right back, warning that the move would
03:28be illegal and constitute an example of piracy. Iran added that if any of its own ports were threatened,
03:34no port in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea will be safe. Iran's semi-official FARS news agency
03:41quoted an Iranian official who said the U.S. was making unreasonable demands, including on the
03:46Strait of Hormuz, during the talks in Islamabad. The big question is, can the U.S. and Iran still
03:52strike a deal before the current two-week truce expires on April 22nd?
03:55...whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me. And the reason is because we've won.
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