The president of the United States, Donald Trump, made a statement that shook the diplomatic arena on Saturday while his vice president, JD Vance, was negotiating in Islamabad with Iranian representatives.
Whether we reach an agreement or not, I don't care. The reason is that we have won, he said.
Trump's words before reporters publicly downplayed the significance of the conversations taking place at the same time in the Pakistani capital, which represented the highest level of direct interaction between Washington and Tehran since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
The leader was even more explicit in justifying his indifference: "We are in very deep negotiations with Iran. We win either way. We have defeated them militarily".
The negotiations in Islamabad took place at the Hotel Serena in the Pakistani capital, with Pakistan acting as a neutral mediator, and were framed by the two-week ceasefire agreed upon on April 7, which ended 38 days of Operation Epic Fury —the joint military offensive launched by the U.S. and Israel on February 28 against Iran—.
The U.S. delegation was led by Vance, accompanied by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law.
On the Iranian side, the President of Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and the Foreign Minister, Abás Araqchi, participated.
Ghalibaf arrived in Islamabad with declared skepticism: "We have good intentions but we do not trust. Our experience negotiating with the Americans has always ended in failures and broken promises."
The central goal of Washington was to obtain a firm and irreversible commitment from Tehran regarding its nuclear program. Vance summarized it clearly.
"We need to see a firm commitment that they will not seek to develop a nuclear weapon, and that they will not pursue the tools that would allow them to quickly develop a nuclear weapon. That is the central objective of the president of the United States," he said.
Trump, for his part, summarized his government's position in a single sentence: "No nuclear weapon. That is 99% of the matter."
In parallel with the negotiations, the U.S. Central Command deployed two destroyers to commence mine-clearing operations in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world's oil passes.
Iran had partially closed the strait on March 4 with mines, drones, and missiles, collapsing naval traffic by 97% and driving the price of Brent crude from 67 to over 126 dollars per barrel.
Tehran rejected the U.S. version regarding the demining and stated that it maintains control of the strait.
Trump responded with another strong statement: "We are going to open the strait even if we don't use it, because there are many other countries in the world that do use it and that are either scared, weak, or stingy."
The leader also expressed his frustration with the NATO allies, whom he accused of remaining on the sidelines during the war and of not having been consulted beforehand.
In addition, he warned China that it would face "serious problems" if it supplied anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran, and threatened with tariffs of 50% on any country that provides weapons to Tehran.
The military context surrounding the conversations was devastating: Operation Epic Fury destroyed more than 5,000 Iranian military targets, degraded 90% of their missile capability and 95% of their drones, and resulted in the death of the supreme leader Ali Khamenei on March 1.
The toll of the conflict included nearly 3,400 deaths in Iran —over 1,600 civilians—, more than 2,000 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel, and 13 American military personnel killed in combat.
After 21 hours of marathon negotiations, the discussions ended without an agreement early Sunday morning. The main obstacle was, in fact, the nuclear program: the U.S. presented what Vance referred to as Washington's "final and best offer," but Tehran did not accept it.
When announcing the failure, Vance was straightforward: "The bad news is that we haven't reached an agreement, and I believe that this is worse news for Iran than it is for the United States."
And he added: "We have made it very clear what our red lines are, what we are willing to concede, and what we are not. And they have chosen not to accept our terms".
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