US-Iran Talks in Islamabad End Without Deal After 21-Hour Marathon
The most intensive direct engagement between the United States and Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ended without agreement early Sunday morning after 21 exhausting hours of negotiations. Vice President JD Vance left the table in Islamabad with what he called a "final and best offer," warning that failure was "bad news for Iran much more than it's bad news for the United States of America."
The talks brought together an American delegation of approximately 300 members led by Vance, presidential adviser Jared Kushner, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, against an Iranian team of 71 members led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Pakistan's PM Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir mediated, remaining in the room throughout. Chinese, Egyptian, Saudi, and Qatari officials were present in Islamabad for indirect consultations.
The talks deadlocked primarily over two issues: Iran's refusal to commit to abandoning its nuclear weapons program, and the Strait of Hormuz, Iran insists on retaining sovereign control over the waterway through which 20% of global oil transits, rejecting all proposals for joint control or full reopening.
Inside the negotiating room
The format escalated beyond initial plans. What was designed as "proximity talks", indirect negotiations through Pakistani intermediaries, became direct face-to-face meetings, with Pakistani mediators present. The Vance-Qalibaf meeting represented the highest-level face-to-face US-Iranian encounter since 1979.
Iran's delegation arrived dressed in black mourning clothes for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other officials killed in the February 28 strikes. They carried shoes and bags belonging to students killed during US bombardment, a deliberate symbolic message. Qalibaf set the tone upon arrival: "We have good intentions but we do not trust. Our experience in negotiating with the Americans has always been met with failure and broken promises."
The Financial Times reported that talks reached a deadlock specifically over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's negotiators rejected "joint control" proposals and insisted on retaining the right to charge vessels and levy tolls. Iran presented a 10-point proposal including withdrawal of all US combat forces from Middle East bases, full compensation for war damages, lifting of all sanctions, and a binding UN Security Council resolution.
The US countered with a 15-point proposal centered on ending Iran's nuclear program, limiting ballistic missiles, fully reopening the Strait, and restricting Iran's support for armed groups, with conditional sanctions relief.
The frozen assets contradiction
A revealing diplomatic confusion emerged over $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets held in Qatar. A senior unnamed Iranian source told Reuters that the US had agreed to unfreeze the money. Within hours, a US official told CBS News: "The United States has not agreed to release any frozen Iranian assets to date." The White House called the Iranian claim "Not True", capitalized as distributed to reporters.
Qatar confirmed it still holds the funds and that release requires US Treasury Department approval, which has not been granted. The $6 billion, originally frozen in South Korean banks from Iranian oil revenue in 2018, was transferred to Qatar National Bank in September 2023 under a Biden-era prisoner swap deal, then refrozen after the October 7 Hamas attacks. Iran's total globally frozen assets exceed $100 billion.
What both sides said walking away
Vance spoke at a press conference flanked by Witkoff and Kushner: "We need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon. That is the core goal of the president." He confirmed speaking with Trump "a half dozen times, a dozen times" during the 21-hour session.
Trump, before the talks, had been characteristically blunt: "No nuclear weapon. That's 99% of it." During the talks, he declared: "We've totally defeated that country and so let's see what happens. Maybe they make a deal, maybe they don't, it doesn't matter." Iran's Tasnim News Agency, linked to the IRGC, framed the negotiations as "America's last chance."
Netanyahu delivered a 13-minute televised speech listing Israel's accomplishments and warning that enriched uranium would be removed "by agreement or by other means." Israel continued striking Lebanon throughout the talks, 200+ targets in 24 hours on April 11, maintaining that the ceasefire does not cover Israeli operations against Hezbollah.
What this means for Kurdistan and the Kurdish people
The Iran war and these negotiations carry direct consequences for Kurds across all four parts of Kurdistan.
In Iraqi Kurdistan, Iranian and Iran-backed militias launched repeated rocket and drone attacks on Peshmerga positions, civilian areas, and key infrastructure throughout the war. Drone strikes targeted Iranian-Kurdish opposition camps in Koysinjaq and Topzawa and hit residential areas in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah. KRG PM Masrour Barzani stated: "I hope the ceasefire between the United States and Iran will hold. The attacks on Kurdistan were never justified."
For Iranian Kurds, the situation is particularly fraught. In February 2026, five Kurdish parties formed the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan (CPFIK). Trump initially offered "extensive US air cover" for Kurdish groups to seize portions of western Iran, then reversed course on March 7-8. Komala leader Abdullah Mohtadi responded: "We will not send our forces to the slaughterhouse." If the ceasefire collapses, Kurdish areas in western Iran face renewed bombardment. If a deal is struck without addressing Kurdish rights, the Islamic Republic could crack down harder on Kurdish communities.
The two-week ceasefire, effective since April 8, remains fragile and is set to expire around April 22. What happens next depends on whether Iran accepts Vance's "final offer", and the window is narrowing.