- US Vice President Vance sees progress in US-Iran talks.
- Deep mistrust persists, but Iranian negotiators want a deal.
US Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday that deep mistrust between Washington and Tehran could not be resolved overnight, but indicated that Iranian negotiators were willing to reach an agreement and expressed confidence in the progress made so far.
While talking at the Turning Point USA event, Vance said, “This was a meeting that never happened at that level between the US and the Iranian government in 49 years… So there is a lot of mistrust between Iran and the USA and it can’t be solved overnight, but I know that the people sitting across wanted to make a deal… We negotiated in good faith… I feel very good about where we are…”
‘Trump Wants Grand Bargain’
He also said that the US President Donald Trump wanted a grand bargain with Iran and this is the reason he made a ton of progress in Pakistan.
“The President made a policy that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and we are making sure that very thing happens… The President doesn’t want a small deal, he wants a grand bargain… This is why we made a ton of progress in Pakistan, but the deal was not done because the President wants a deal where Iran does not have a nuclear weapon and the people there can thrive and join the global economy… We are going to keep on negotiating and try to make it happen…” Vance said.
‘US-Iran Peace Talk May Resume’
His remarks came as President Donald Trump said talks aimed at ending the Iran conflict could resume in Pakistan within the next two days, following the collapse of weekend negotiations that led Washington to impose a blockade on Iranian ports.
A fragile two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran, which still has a week remaining, continues to hold. Vance, who participated in the recent talks in Pakistan, reiterated that while tensions remain high, there are positive signals from the negotiations.
The conflict began on February 28 after joint US and Israeli strikes on Iran, prompting retaliatory attacks by Tehran on Israel and US bases in the Gulf. The ongoing hostilities have resulted in thousands of deaths and widespread displacement across the region.
