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3. Iran's Ex-FM Zarif Blames Talks Failure on U.S. Push to 'Dictate' Terms

Iran's former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who led his country's delegation at 2015 nuclear talks, on Sunday blamed the failure of negotiations to end the Middle East war on U.S. attempts to "dictate" its terms.

"No negotiations, at least with Iran, will succeed based on 'our/your terms,'" said Zarif, one of the architects of the nuclear deal with the United States and other world powers, which was abandoned in 2018 by U.S. President Donald Trump.

"The U.S. must learn you can't dictate terms to Iran. It's not too late to learn. Yet," added Zarif in a post on X.

On Saturday, senior American and Iranian officials held peace talks in Pakistan as a fragile two-week ceasefire held.

After the talks failed, U.S. news website Axios quoted an unnamed source briefed on the negotiations as saying that disagreements included "Iran's demand to control the Strait of Hormuz and refusal to give up on its enriched uranium stockpile."

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who led his country's delegation, said at a press conference Sunday that the talks lasted around 21 hours and that Iran had "chosen not to accept our terms."

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the two sides had agreed on some points but that "differences remained on two or three important issues."

Iran has been at war with the United States and Israel since February 28, when strikes killed the Islamic Republic's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, triggering a conflict that quickly spread across the Middle East.

It was not immediately clear whether the two sides would resume contacts or what would happen to the ceasefire after talks failed.

AFP