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The Islamabad talks were doomed to failure – and Hormuz blockade has thrown another obstacle to any Iran-US deal

  • Written by Farah N. Jan, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, University of Pennsylvania
imageU.S. Vice President JD Vance leaves Islamabad on April 12, 2026. Jacquelyn Martin - Pool/Getty ImagesJacquelyn Martin/Getty Images

Twenty-one hours of direct negotiations. The highest-level face-to-face engagement between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

And yet, U.S. Vice President JD Vance boarded Air Force Two in Islamabad...

Read more: The Islamabad talks were doomed to failure – and Hormuz blockade has thrown another obstacle to...

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