Peace talks between the U.S. and Iran have stopped, over disagreements in Iran’s nuclear plans. The scale of uranium enrichment and the duration of these restrictions remains the key point.
The US has proposed a 20-year halt to Iran’s uranium enrichment in their proposal but Iran agrees to a 5-year halt, as per the reports of Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
What Is Iran’s Stand In Uranium Enrichment?
Iran has proposed a 5-year halt to the uranium enrichment but it was rejected by the US by insisting on a 20-year halt on the same, as referred by two Iranian officials and one US official to The New York Times.
This comes after Trump’s repeated declaration that Iran should stop all enrichment processes permanently as this could lead them to develop nuclear weapons.
Besides arguing about the Strait of Hormuz and economic sanctions, the two countries couldn’t agree on how much the deal should cover. The U.S. wanted to focus mostly on nuclear rules and the Strait of Hormuz, but Iran wanted the agreement to include many other topics.
Negotiator’s Role: What Pakistan Says About The Peace Talks?
Raised voices were heard outside the negotiation room amid a tense moment, before Pakistan’s Army Chief called for a tea break and put both the delegation in two separate rooms, as per a government source told the Reuters.
There was strong hope during the talks that both sides would reach an agreement, but the situation changed very quickly, a Pakistani government source told Reuters.
The two sides had come very close, somewhere about 80% to a deal, before facing problems they couldn’t solve immediately, as per the reports of another person involved.
Two senior Iranian officials described the mood as tense and unfriendly. They said that even though Pakistan tried to calm things down, neither side was willing to reduce tensions.
Officials also told The Wall Street Journal that they might hold another round of face-to-face talks, but no details have been shared yet.
Apart from uranium enrichment, other major issues included reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global energy trade that Iran has blocked and removing international sanctions on Iran.
Reuters reported that the talks at Islamabad’s Serena Hotel were held in separate areas: one for the US team, one for the Iranian team, and a shared space for joint meetings with Pakistani mediators.
Mobile phones were not allowed in the main meeting room, so delegates including US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bager Qalibaf had to step outside during breaks to contact their governments.
‘There was a strong hope in the middle of the talks that there would be a breakthrough and the two sides would reach an agreement. However, things changed within no time,’ says a Pakistani government source.
