WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Vice President JD Vance led a delegation to Islamabad to negotiate with Iranian officials on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending Iran's nuclear programme. The talks lasted 21 hours and ended without an agreement.

Vance was joined in the delegation by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump. Together, the three met with Iran's leadership in the Pakistani capital to address two central points of contention between Washington and Tehran: the closure of the strategic waterway and Iran's nuclear activities.

Vance became the highest-ranking U.S. official to sit across from an Iranian delegation since the 1979 revolution, a gap of more than four decades in direct high-level contact between the two governments.

After the prolonged session concluded, Vance said that the talks had not resulted in an agreement and that he believed this outcome was worse for Iran than for the United States. No subsequent rounds of negotiations were announced.

The diplomatic effort followed a period of pressure from the Trump administration. Trump had imposed a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a large share of global oil shipments pass. The president had also threatened to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age, a statement that preceded the dispatch of the Vance-led delegation to Islamabad. At a private Easter brunch, Trump said he would blame Vance if the Iran negotiations failed and said he would take full credit if they succeeded.

Vance, a Catholic convert, served as a soldier in Iraq before entering politics. He and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard have opposed further U.S. military interventions and campaigned against returning to conflicts in Iraq.