Overview
- The Islamabad negotiations, which stretched about 21 hours Saturday, ended without a deal as JD Vance said Iran would not meet U.S. demands on nuclear safeguards and shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
- Viktor Orbán conceded defeat Sunday after Vance stumped for him in Budapest days earlier, and the vice president later called the trip worthwhile despite the loss.
- A CNN survey released last week showed Vance at a net -18 approval, and analysts like the Financial Times’ Ed Luce now argue he is no longer Trump’s obvious successor.
- President Trump said Vance “did a good job,” while Democrats sought to tie him to the widening conflict and GOP strategists split on whether the high-visibility but fruitless talks added gravitas or revealed “drive-by diplomacy.”
- In a Tuesday Turning Point USA stop in Georgia, Vance said he feels “very good” about further Iran talks and pitched a sweeping “grand bargain,” as Trump claimed in a TV interview the “Iran war is over,” a declaration not backed by an agreement.