ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghadam on Sunday said that the negotiations between Washington and Tehran in Islamabad are “not an event but a process,” coming after a meeting between delegations from both sides yielded no lasting agreement.

“The Islamabad Talks laid the foundation for a diplomatic process that, if trust and will are strengthened, can create a sustainable framework for the interests of all parties,” Moghadam said in a statement posted on X.

The diplomat’s remarks come after US Vice President JD Vance, who led the American negotiating team, said in the early hours of Sunday that the over 21 hours of discussions with their Iranian counterparts had failed to produce an agreement.

The US-Israeli war on Iran is currently on pause, thanks to a temporary ceasefire agreement brokered by Pakistan, while the two long-standing adversaries prepare to hash out their differences on the negotiating table.

“The Islamabad Talks is ‘not an event but a process,’” Moghadam said, thanking Pakistan, particularly Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir for “their initiative of goodwill and good office for the talks.”

The terms highlighted in the talks included the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s nuclear program, war reparations, lifting of sanctions, and a “complete end” to the war, according to Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei.

A key US demand for ending the war, and one of the main justifications for launching the military operation in February, was for Tehran to halt its nuclear program, a demand routinely rejected by Iranian leadership, who insist on the country’s right to “peaceful” uranium enrichment.

The breakdown of the talks in Islamabad thus far has cast uncertainty on the future of the conflict, as the war’s overarching impact has not only thrown the Middle East into turmoil, but also sent the global economy in a downward spiral, owing to the closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz by Iran.

"The meeting with Iran began early in the morning, and lasted throughout the night — Close to 20 hours," US President Donald Trump said Sunday. "I could go into great detail, and talk about much that has been gotten but, there is only one thing that matters — IRAN IS UNWILLING TO GIVE UP ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS!"

“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” the American president wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The US Navy has been instructed to interdict vessels in international waters that had “paid a toll to Iran,” Trump said in the aftermath of the failed negotiation round.

“No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,” he warned.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf responded to threats by Trump, stating “if you fight, we will fight, and if you come forward with logic, we will deal with logic,” Iranian state media reported Sunday.

“We will not bow to any threats; let them test our will once again to teach them a bigger lesson.”