US President , on Sunday (local time), once again commended Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, calling them “very extraordinary men”.
In a post on Truth Social, he said, “They are very extraordinary men, and continuously thank me for saving 30 to 50 million lives in what would have been a horrendous War with India. I always appreciate hearing that — The amount of Humanity spoken of is incomprehensible.”
His remarks came after the US and Iranian delegations held negotiations for over 21 hours in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad. The negotiations were held on 10 April after Tehran and Washington agreed to a two-week to bring the six-week-long conflict to an end.
US-Iran ceasefire talks
The negotiations marked the first direct meeting between Washington and Tehran in over a decade and the highest-level discussions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Reuters reported.
On Sunday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency accused the US of failing to reach an agreement, citing Washington’s “excessive” demands. According to media reports, while an agreement was reached on several issues, the Strait of and the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program continued to be the main points of difference.
In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote, “The meeting with Iran began early in the morning, and lasted throughout the night — Close to 20 hours. I could go into great detail and talk about much that has been gotten, but there is only one thing that matters — IRAN IS UNWILLING TO GIVE UP ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS!
What did the US say on failed talks?
Vice President JD Vance, who led the US delegation of Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, noted that Tehran refused to accept Washington’s terms. He added, “The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement, and I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America.” Vance also added that the Islamic Republic decided not to accept Washington’s terms and that the latter needs to see a “fundamental commitment” from Tehran not to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran’s response to the failed talks
On the other hand, Iranian parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, in a post on X, revealed the reason as to why the talks failed. Ghalibaf noted that while Tehran presented forward-looking initiatives, Washington failed to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation, given the experience of the previous two wars.
Reports suggest that Tehran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that nobody expected that an agreement would be reached with the US in a single session. Esmaeil Baghaei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ spokesperson, said, “Naturally, from the beginning, we should not have expected to reach an agreement in a single session. No one had such an expectation.” He, however, did express confidence that contacts between the Islamic Republic and and other allies would continue.
Trump praises Pak PM, Field Marshal
This isn’t the first time that Trump has lauded Shehbaz Sharif and Asim Munir. In December last year, Trump said, “The head of Pakistan and a highly respected general – he is a field marshal – and also the prime minister of Pakistan said that President Trump saved 10 million lives, maybe more.”
Trump has often praised the Pakistani leadership after the latter credited the US President for stopping the conflict between India and Pakistan, which happened in May last year, after India launched in retaliation for the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack, where 26 people, mostly tourists, lost their lives. After India launched precision strikes targeting terror infrastructure across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the two nuclear-armed neighbours were engaged in a four-day military conflict.
Trump, who was eyeing a in 2025, has claimed on several occasions that the India-Pakistan war was one of the many he helped to stop. While India consistently denied any interference from the US or any other country, Sharif and Munir thanked Trump for his efforts.
