The US has been warned to expect a long haul in negotiations with Iran after 21 hours of talks in Islamabad failed to reach a deal to end the Middle East war.
Sources told The National the Strait of Hormuz was the main focus of the initial talks, with Iran refusing to cede control of the strategic oil route at the mouth of the Gulf it sees as its strongest card in the negotiations.
President Donald Trump said the US would begin its own blockade after no breakthrough was reached in the negotiations held in Islamabad on Saturday.
The sources said the Americans and Iranians had reached a "general framework" for negotiations, which could lead to a broad overhaul of US-Iran relations. Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi said a deal may "require everyone to make painful concessions".
But both countries said gaps remained. US Vice President JD Vance said Iran had not offered assurances about its nuclear activities. Iranian negotiator Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf said the Americans were "unable to gain trust".
A prolonged stalemate could worsen the war's impact on global oil supply and the world economy. The Strait of Hormuz "has never been Iran's to close or restrict", said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE's Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and managing director and group chief executive of Adnoc.
Dr Al Jaber said Iran's attempt to close the strait is "not a regional issue; it is the disruption of a global economic lifeline and a direct threat to the energy, food and health security of every nation".
Nuclear talks
Veterans of Iran nuclear negotiations said it was unrealistic to expect a deal in a short time. "The agreement we reached with Iran in 2015 was the result of hundreds of hours of negotiations," said former French diplomat Gerard Araud.
"Negotiating with the Iranians is the equivalent of a diplomatic trench war. Line by line, word by word," he said.
Iran also wants Russia and China to be guarantors of any deal reached, the sources said. Russian diplomat Mikhail Ulyanov, who has also negotiated nuclear issues with Iran, said the US "must be prepared for a number of rounds of negotiations".
Mr Trump said many points had been agreed but that "the only point that really mattered, NUCLEAR, was not". Iranian state media meanwhile described "excessive demands" by the US team, which included Mr Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.
The sources briefed on the Islamabad talks said Iran and the US could pick up nuclear negotiations where they left off in February talks held in Oman, before the war began.
The US is seeking guarantees that Iran will not develop a nuclear weapon. Tehran, which maintains it has no such intentions, insists it must be able to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.
The 2015 deal agreed during Barack Obama's presidency allowed Iran to enrich uranium up to 3.67 per cent purity – a nuclear weapon requires 90 per cent. It also restricted Iran's uranium stockpile and use of advanced centrifuges, in return for lifting sanctions.
Mr Trump abandoned that deal in 2018 during his first term in office. Although the US is now seeking similar assurances, the "facts on the ground" have changed since American bombers hit Iran's nuclear sites last year, said Jason Brodsky of United Against Nuclear Iran, a campaign group.
"UN sanctions have snapped back on Iran which endorse zero enrichment," he said. Before last June's strikes "Iran had advanced its nuclear programme to such an extent that it rendered some [2015 deal] limits obsolete".
The Islamabad talks were organised last week after Mr Trump backed down from unprecedented threats against Iran. Sources described US and Iranian experts discussing details while Mr Vance and Mr Ghalibaf at times sat together.
Pakistani mediators were in and out of the room where the pair talked. Mr Vance had a constant line of communication with the White House, while the Iranians did not seek advice or brief anyone in Tehran while they were in Islamabad, the source said.
They described the Iranian delegation, reportedly 70-strong, as a representation of the Iranian state in its entirety, including reformists, hardliners, technical experts and representatives of the Revolutionary Guard and intelligence. From the US side, the detailed discussions were carried out by representatives of the Pentagon and the CIA, they said.
Sanctions, ballistic missiles and Lebanon were also discussed.
"Every issue and point of contention was on the table. It was the experts who did the talking, not Kushner or Witkoff," said one of the sources.
