Vance: A lot of progress has been made on the pitch in Iran

Marathon 21-hour peace talks between the United States and Iran in Islamabad over the weekend failed to reach an agreement, with Washington insisting Tehran refuses to give up its right to enrich nuclear fuel.

“I wouldn’t just say things are going wrong. I also think things are going well. We’ve made a lot of progress,” Vance told Fox News.

“They are moving in our direction, which is why I think we would say we have some good signs, but they don’t go far enough,” said the US vice president, who is leading a delegation of envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to talks with Iran.

The Iranian delegation included Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Vance stressed that if the United States’ “red lines” on Iran’s nuclear ambitions were met, “then this would be a very, very good deal for both countries.”

“Whether or not we have further conversations and whether we end up with a deal, I really think the ball is in the Iranian court because we’ve discussed it a lot,” Vance said.

The vice president said the peace talks in Pakistan ultimately ended because Iranian negotiators were unable to hammer out a deal, adding that the discussions revealed insights into who has decision-making power in Tehran.

“What we found was, I don’t think they were able to — the teams there couldn’t come to an agreement,” he explained.

“They have to come back to Tehran, whether it’s from the supreme leader or someone else, and actually get approval on the terms that we set.”

Vance claimed that he 100% agrees with US President Donald Trump that Iran does not possess nuclear weapons.

He asked: “I 100% agree with @USPresident that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon… If they are willing to engage in economic terrorism around the world, what does that mean if they have a nuclear bomb in Tehran? What leverage will they have?”

Vance said this was the first time the U.S. and Iranian governments had held such a high-level meeting. “So I think it’s positive and we’re definitely making some progress in the negotiations,” he said.

Vance said rising energy prices are “painful” but won’t last forever.

“We know the American people are hurting, and that’s why we’re negotiating so aggressively to try to get energy prices down. We’re going to keep working hard,” he said.

This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.