US Vice President JD Vance said that there was a deep mistrust between Washington and Tehran that cannot be resolved overnight, but noted that Iranian negotiators were willing to make a deal and that he felt “very good about where we are.”

“There is a lot of, of course, ‌mistrust ⁠between Iran and the United States of America. You are not going to solve that problem overnight,” Vance said during a Turning Point USA event.

His remarks highlighted the key diplomatic challenge after weekend talks in Pakistan failed to yield a breakthrough despite more than 21 hours of negotiations.

Nevertheless, Vance said Iranian negotiators wanted to make ​a deal, adding “I feel very good about where we are.” His statement signalled the door to diplomacy remains open. 

Pakistan likely to remain the diplomatic venue for 2nd round of talks 

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that talks aimed at ending the Iran war could resume in Pakistan within the next two days, following the breakdown of weekend negotiations that led Washington to impose a blockade on Iranian ports.

A fragile two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran remains in place, with one week still remaining, while Vice President JD Vance participated in the talks held in Pakistan over the weekend.

Pakistan hosted the previous round of direct US-Iran talks, with Vice President JD Vance leading the American delegation in the highest-level face-to-face engagement between the two sides in decades. Although the negotiations ended without an agreement, both sides stopped short of walking away from the process altogether.

Timeline gap for nuclear freeze was deadlock

A disagreement over Tehran’s nuclear programme was the main point of contention during the weekend negotiations talks between Iran and the United States in Pakistan. 

In that talk, Washington reportedly proposed a 20-year “suspension” of Iran’s uranium enrichment instead of permanent ban, but Tehran was only willing to do it for five years, as per the reports by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. 

War began with US-Israeli aggression

The US and Israel launched military aggression against Iran on February 28, following earlier unprovoked strikes carried out eight months prior.

The attacks resulted in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, along with hundreds of Iranian civilians, including women and children, as well as several senior military commanders and political leaders. 

In response, Iran carried out retaliatory strikes targeting US assets in the region and sites within Israeli-occupied territories. 

Meanwhile, Iran has also maintained that it respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of neighbouring states, stating that its retaliatory actions are aimed solely at US bases and assets located within those territories.