Overview
- Vice President J.D. Vance led a 21-hour negotiating session in Islamabad that ended without a deal after Iran declined to pledge it would not seek a nuclear weapon, he said.
- President Donald Trump has been asking allies to rate Vance’s handling of the talks and to compare him with Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a potential 2028 standard-bearer.
- The White House says Vance remains its point person on Iran negotiations and could return to Pakistan if prospects for an agreement improve.
- Vance’s political footing weakened further after he campaigned for Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, whose party then lost in a landslide.
- Steve Bannon publicly rejected Vance as MAGA’s heir and pushed a third Trump term, as Vance tried to rally young conservatives frustrated by the Iran war and higher gas prices to stay engaged.