West Asia War: Trump says Iran talks in Islamabad collapse over nuclear standoff despite ‘progress’ on other issues

As the Islamabad forum collapsed after hours of deliberation, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the high-stakes talks with Iran broke down over Tehran’s refusal to curb its nuclear programme.

In a series of posts on Truth Social, Trump described the negotiations, facilitated through efforts involving Pakistan, as long and intense, stretching close to 20 hours.

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Despite what Trump described as progress on several fronts, he said the negotiations ultimately faltered on what he called the “only point that really mattered” — Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“The meeting went well, most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered, NUCLEAR, was not,” read one of his two lenghty posts on the matter. “I could go into great detail, and talk about much that has been gotten but, there is only one thing that matters — IRAN IS UNWILLING TO GIVE UP ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS.”

“In many ways, the points that were agreed to are better than us continuing our Military Operations to conclusion, but all of those points don’t matter compared to allowing Nuclear Power to be in the hands of such volatile, difficult, unpredictable people,” he added.

Also Read | Donald Trump orders Strait of Hormuz blockade, warns any Iranian firing at US could be ‘blown to hell’The US President informed that he had been briefed by Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner on discussions held in Islamabad.

US representatives, Trump noted, held discussions with senior Iranian officials including Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, Abbas Araghchi and Ali Bagheri.

While the tone of the talks was “respectful,” Trump said Tehran remained “unyielding” on abandoning its nuclear programme.

“My three Representatives, as all of this time went by, became, not surprisingly, very friendly and respectful of Iran’s Representatives, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, Abbas Araghchi, and Ali Bagheri, but that doesn’t matter because they were very unyielding as to the single most important issue and, as I have always said, right from the beginning, and many years ago, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON,” he wrote on his own social media platform.