{"text":[[{"start":8.88,"text":"US vice-president JD Vance said that the US and Iran had failed to reach an agreement to end the war after more than 16 hours of talks in Pakistan. "}],[{"start":21.03,"text":"“We go back to the United States having not come to an agreement,” Vance said in remarks to the press early on Sunday morning in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad."}],[{"start":32.97,"text":"Vance said little about the substance of the marathon talks, but added that the negotiations had foundered as Iranian officials had proved unwilling to promise that they would never seek to develop a nuclear weapon. “We just could not get to a situation where the Iranians were willing to accept our terms,” Vance said. "}],[{"start":53.01,"text":"Vance is now set to return to Washington, with the failure to secure a lasting end to the war likely to cause further turmoil in global energy markets."}],[{"start":64.35,"text":"The US and Iran struck a two-week ceasefire agreement on Tuesday, after US President Donald Trump threatened “a whole civilisation will die” if Tehran did not agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by his deadline."}],[{"start":79.63,"text":"Under the terms of the ceasefire, Trump agreed to suspend US bombing if Tehran opened up the strait, a vital chokepoint for global shipping. The agreement was almost immediately imperilled by confusion over whether the ceasefire included a pause on Israel’s strikes in Lebanon."}],[{"start":101.47,"text":"Vance was accompanied in Islamabad by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, one of Iran’s senior wartime leaders, led the Islamic republic’s team of negotiators, Iranian state media said on Saturday."}],[{"start":121.50999999999999,"text":"The negotiations mark the first time that such senior US and Iranian officials have met for face-to-face negotiations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The length of the talks and the seniority of the delegations indicated that both parties were interested in reaching a deal."}],[{"start":141.91,"text":"But diplomats had warned there were big gaps between the parties, whose relationship has been characterised by decades of hostility. "}],[{"start":151.21,"text":"Witkoff and Kushner held indirect talks over Iran’s nuclear programme before the US and Israel launched their war against the Islamic republic on February 28, deepening Iran’s distrust."}],[{"start":165.84,"text":"US and Israeli strikes have significantly weakened Iran’s military. But Tehran’s willingness to block the Strait of Hormuz during the war, the transit point for some 20 per cent of the world’s oil, has given it a new point of leverage."}],[{"start":181.88,"text":"The two sides had earlier separately met Pakistani leaders to lay the ground for negotiations, which have been focused on reopening the strait, reaching a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme and Tehran’s demand for sanctions relief. "}],[{"start":198.13,"text":"Negotiators had said there was a “stalemate” over control of the waterway during the talks. "}],[{"start":204.92,"text":"Two American warships — US Navy guided-missile destroyers — transited through the strait on Saturday for the first time since the start of the war with Iran, US Central Command said, as the American military launched what it described as a mission to free the waterway of mines set by Iran. It added that “additional US forces, including underwater drones, will join the clearance effort in the coming days”. "}],[{"start":233.26,"text":"“We’ll open up the strait, even though we don’t use it, because we have a lot of other countries in the world that do use it,” Trump told reporters on Saturday afternoon."}],[{"start":244.7,"text":"Pakistan’s powerful military chief Asim Munir, who has a close relationship with Trump and Iran’s leaders, mediated the face-to-face meeting between the top officials from both countries, people briefed on the talks said."}],[{"start":258.72999999999996,"text":"Vance thanked Munir and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in his remarks following the talks. “Whatever shortcomings of the negotiation, it wasn’t because of the Pakistanis who did an amazing job and really tried to help us and the Iranians bridge the gap,” he said. "}],[{"start":277.92999999999995,"text":"As Vance emerged from the negotiations in Islamabad, Trump and his secretary of state Marco Rubio were in an arena in Miami, Florida, to watch an Ultimate Fighting Championship event."}],[{"start":292.55999999999995,"text":"Earlier in the day, Trump said that regardless of the outcome of the negotiations in Islamabad, the US had won the war. “Maybe they make a deal, maybe they don’t. From the standpoint of America, we win,” he said."}],[{"start":313.53,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1775979112_6655.mp3"}