US Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday that there was a lot of mistrust between Washington and Tehran that could not be resolved overnight, but he added that Iranian negotiators wanted to make a deal and that he felt "very good about where we are."
"There is a lot of, of course, mistrust between Iran and the United States of America. You are not going to solve that problem overnight," Vance said during a Turning Point USA event.
He added that the US and Iran had not held meetings "at that level" in 47 years.
“It is a meeting that had never before happened. Not Democrat, not Republican," he said. "We had never had a meeting like that where you have the person who’s effectively running the country in Iran, sitting across from the vice president of the United States."
Talks could resume in next two days
Talks to end the Iran war could resume in Pakistan over the next two days, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, after the collapse of weekend negotiations prompted Washington to impose a blockade on Iranian ports.
A fragile two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran still has a week to run. Vance was involved in the talks with a 70-person Iranian delegation last weekend in Pakistan.
Iranian negotiators, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, wanted to make a deal, said Vance.
Vance attended the talks alongside US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who were motivated by Trump to "go out there and negotiate in good faith.”
“That’s what we did. That’s what we’re going to keep on doing,” reflected Vance.
'All the ingredients of a deal'
A senior US official told Fox News on Tuesday that the US and Iran had "all the ingredients of a deal" but have yet to concretize an agreement.
"A lot is happening today and tomorrow. We have all the ingredients of a deal, but it's not all there yet," said the official, adding that Trump's blockade on Iranian ports has made Tehran "really fearful," and thus more willing to make a deal.
Vance had said on Monday that negotiations had ended due to Tehran's inability to reach a deal, adding that it was Iran's responsibility to take the next step.
However, the vice-president also told Fox News that "progress was made" during the talks, both in communicating the US's nearly unmovable stances and in learning how Iran negotiates.
Reuters contributed to this report.