By Ariba Shahid, Asif Shahzad and Parisa Hafezi
ISLAMABAD, April 12 (Reuters) – Talks between the United States and Iran appear to have ended, the Iranian government said early on Sunday, following a series of talks in Pakistan https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pakistani-fi-star-hotel-becomes-unlikely-site-us-iran-talks-2026-04-11/ to end the six-week war https://www.reuters.com/world/iran/ between Washington and Tehran.
The talks in Islamabad are the first face-to-face US-Iran meeting in more than a decade and the highest-level discussions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The outcome could decide the fate of a fragile two-week ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point for about 20% of global energy supplies that Iran has blocked since the war began. The conflict sent global oil prices soaring and killed thousands of people.
In a post on X, the Iranian government said that after 14 hours, the negotiations had ended and technical experts from both sides would exchange documents.
“Negotiations will continue despite some remaining differences,” the post added, although it did not say when they would restart.
An Iranian state television reporter said talks would continue on Sunday.
US Vice President JD Vance https://www.reuters.com/world/us/vance-warns-iran-not-play-us-he-leaves-talks-2026-04-10/, special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi for two hours before retiring, according to a source from Pakistani mediator.
The Trump administration has yet to comment on whether the negotiations have ended and what differences, if any, remain.
The Iranian delegation arrived Friday dressed in black to mourn late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and others killed in the war. The Iranian government said it carried the shoes and bags of some students killed in the US bombing of school nL6N400164 next to the military zone. The Pentagon said the attack was under investigation but Reuters reported https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-investigation-points-likely-us-responsibility-iran-school-strike-sources-say-2026-03-06/ that military investigators believe the United States may be responsible for the incident.
Another Pakistani source said: “There were mood swings on both sides and temperatures rose and fell throughout the meeting.”
For the US-Iran talks, Islamabad, a city of more than 2 million people, was locked down with thousands of paramilitary and military personnel on the streets.
Pakistan’s role as an intermediary is a notable transformation (L4N40J13V) for a country that was a diplomatic outcast a year ago.
HORMUZ FACE WAIST
As negotiations began, the US military said it was “setting conditions” to begin clearing the Strait of Hormuz.
The Strait of Hormuz is at the center of ceasefire negotiations. The US military said two of its warships had passed through the strait and conditions were being set for mine clearance, while Iranian state media denied any US ships had passed through the waterway.
Before the talks began, a senior Iranian source told Reuters that the United States had agreed to release frozen assets nL1N40U035 in Qatar and other foreign banks. A US official denied agreeing to hand over this money.
According to Iranian officials and state television, along with transferring assets abroad, Tehran is demanding control of the Strait of Hormuz, war reparations payments and a ceasefire across the region, including in Lebanon.
Tehran nL6N40U01E also wants to collect transit fees nL1N40Q0L0 in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s stated goals have changed, but at a minimum, he wants free passage for global shipping through the strait and a crippling of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program to ensure it cannot produce an atomic bomb.
U.S. ally Israel, which participated in the Feb. 28 attack on Iran and launched the war, has also bombed Tehran-backed Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and says the conflict is not covered by the Iran-U.S. ceasefire agreement.
Mutual distrust is very high.
(Reporting by Reuters world bureaus; Writing by Idrees Ali; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)