US and Iran delegations meet again following productive Islamabad negotiations

US-Iran – (Web Desk) – Senior journalist Hamid Mir has opened up about what really went on during the closed door US-Iran talks in Islamabad. And the picture he paints is more hopeful than many expected.

Appearing on Geo News programme Naya Pakistan on Sunday evening, Mir spoke to host Shehzad Iqbal and said straight away that the talks should not be written off. “These conversations do not end with a clear result in just one or two meetings,” he explained. Both delegations sat together for a long time. By the end they had found agreement on some things. On others they needed to go back and check with their own leaderships before committing to anything.

Nobody was ready to name the specific points. But Mir said he and his team had quietly managed to work some of it out through their own sources.

One exchange stood out. After US Vice President JD Vance sat down with Iranian Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Vance made it clear he needed to speak with President Trump before anything moved forward. He also suggested keeping the whole thing low key. No announcements. No cameras. Just a quiet follow up meeting when the time was right.

The Americans left early that morning. The Iranian delegation stayed back for a bit longer, sat with their Pakistani hosts and thanked them before departing.

Mir summed it up simply. The Islamabad talks did not produce a final agreement but both sides walked away willing to meet again. The date and location are still being worked out.

On the ceasefire, Mir said both sides are working to keep the current two week arrangement alive. Indirect communication is expected to continue with the goal of stretching it further. He also noted that Pakistan will not be carrying this alone. Turkiye and China are expected to step in and play a meaningful part. Mir said he was reasonably confident the ceasefire would last.

When Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday pointing to Iran’s uranium activities, Mir was not alarmed. He said that subject had already come up in the talks and there was a real possibility both sides could meet somewhere in the middle on it. He did not see it as a wall that could stop the process.

Vance also showed some give on the question of sanctions. Mir said he spoke to the Iranians in a positive tone on that front.

US-Iran tensions rise after failed Pakistan talks

The Strait of Hormuz also came up. Trump had made some pointed remarks about it publicly but Mir brushed those aside. He said what Trump was saying in public and what was actually happening in the room were two very different things. “It would be best to ignore this,” Mir said plainly. He added that Trump is fully aware of how the negotiations are going.

But when it came to Lebanon, the tone shifted completely. That is where Iran draws a hard line and has no intention of moving. Mir said a huge portion of the 21 hour negotiations was spent on this one issue alone. Iran wants to be able to look Hezbollah and Hamas in the eye and say it did not trade them away for a deal with Washington. That position, Mir made clear, is not up for discussion.