The talks in Islamabad between the United States and Iran have failed. Let me say that again clearly. The negotiations are over, and the Trump regime blew them up from the inside.
Here’s what happened. Iran put forward a ten-point framework as the basis for negotiations — a framework the Trump administration accepted. That acceptance is what got both sides to the table in Islamabad in the first place. Then, as is Donald Trump’s lifelong habit, the terms changed the moment he had something to gain from changing them. The administration showed up and attempted to impose an entirely different set of demands, including U.S. control over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said no.
J.D. Vance held a press conference moments ago, after 21 hours of talks, declaring the negotiations dead.
Vance announced the following as he approached the lectern: “We have not reached an agreement. And I think that’s bad news for Iran, much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America…They have chosen not to accept our terms.”
What Vance conveniently left out is that the United States agreed to Iran’s framework and then committed what amounts to diplomatic fraud by abandoning it entirely at the negotiating table. Trump even said he was having his administration investigate news organizations who reported on Iran’s ten-point framework that he agreed to.
Iran’s state media had already telegraphed the collapse before Vance stepped to the podium, stating that “excessive demands of the American side, especially regarding the Strait of Hormuz,” had prevented even a basic common framework from being established. You cannot reach a deal when you won’t honor the terms that brought both parties to the room.
Meanwhile, as these talks were crumbling, the Trump administration attempted to send two Navy destroyers through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s navy came out and made clear what would happen if they continued. The destroyers turned around. CENTCOM then put out a statement declaring the mission a success. It was not a success, per independent experts who were monitoring the situation. A Chinese vessel and an Indian vessel passed through. American warships reportedly did not, despite U.S. claims.
And where was the President during all of this? At a UFC match in Florida, with Marco Rubio clapping in the stands. You’d think the President and the Secretary of State would be engaged in these high-stakes negotiations, but nope. They were too busy yucking it up with Joe Rogan. Before heading there, Trump gave a press conference on the White House lawn claiming the strait was being swept clean, that Iran has no navy, no air force, no radar, and that he’s winning regardless of whether a deal gets done. It didn’t matter if a deal was made, Trump insister, because the U.S. had already “won.” That was the most obvious tell that talks were not going well. What happened in Islamabad with the United States in negotiations does not project a nation that just won a war. Far from it.
Iran just played their cards, the cards which Trump insisted they did not have. Now, the U.S. delegation is heading back home empty handed. The ceasefire that preceded these talks now looks like exactly what I suspected it was: a mechanism to briefly calm the markets, not a genuine path to peace.
We will keep you updated as this situation develops. This is far from over.
Watch my full video report above.
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