The Korea Times
The collapse of peacemaking efforts after a marathon 21 hours of talks in Islamabad between the United States and Iran is a sobering reminder of how fragile the path to peace remains. Despite the significance of the meeting — the first high-level, face-to-face engagement between the two sides in nearly half a century — the negotiations ended without an agreement. What had been cautiously viewed as a potential turning point has instead deepened uncertainty. At the heart of the deadlock lies a familiar but formidable divide: Washington insists on an explicit and verifiable commitment from Tehran to abandon not only its nuclear weapons ambitions but also any capability to quickly develop such weapons. For the United States, this is a nonnegotiable red line, central to both its security doctrine and the justification for its recent military actions. Iran, however, views such demands as an infringement on its sovereignty and strategic autonomy. The dispute over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz has only compounded tensions, with each side unwilling to yield ground on an issue of im
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