US signals new Iran talks as ceasefire holds and tensions persist in Strait of Hormuz

[0:00] U.S. President Donald Trump says a new round of negotiations with Iran could happen in [0:04] the next couple of days. [0:06] A source from Pakistan's foreign ministry told Al Jazeera that Islamabad is offering [0:09] to again host the talks. [0:12] Tehran says excessive demands and a lack of political will from the U.S. delegation prevented [0:17] a breakthrough in Islamabad last weekend. [0:20] Washington maintains that the so-called right people in Iran still want to make a deal. [0:24] U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance says the ceasefire with Iran is holding. [0:30] It's led the U.S. delegation in Islamabad on Sunday. [0:32] What's interesting about this is that we have this ceasefire that's in place. [0:37] I think it's six or seven days old. [0:38] Right now the ceasefire is holding. [0:41] And what you're seeing is the president wants to make, he doesn't want to make like a small [0:46] deal. [0:47] He wants to make the grand bargain. [0:49] I think the people we're sitting across from wanted to make a deal. [0:51] And I know the president of the United States told us to go out there and negotiate in good [0:57] faith. [0:58] That's what we did. [0:59] That's what we're going to keep on doing. [1:01] John Holman joins us now live from Washington, D.C. [1:04] John, so the U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, he's been talking about negotiations with Iran. [1:08] What else have we heard from him? [1:09] Yeah, and it all sounds quite upbeat, doesn't it? [1:13] He says there at the end of that soundbite, that's what we're going to keep on doing. [1:18] What else have we heard? [1:19] He said that we haven't had a meeting like this and talking about this high level between [1:24] U.S. and Iranian officials in 49 years. [1:27] And of course, there's a lot of mistrust between Iran and U.S. [1:30] You're going to not going to solve that overnight. [1:32] So seeming to sort of say rather than saying that in a negative way, we understand possibly [1:37] what the difficulties could be. [1:40] And he said, as you heard them there, that he thinks that the people that were sitting [1:43] across from him were trying to make a deal that they were from the U.S. side negotiating [1:49] in good faith. [1:50] And we've got on top of this President Trump telling the New York Post that there could [1:55] be more negotiations in Islamabad in Pakistan in a couple of days time. [1:59] So all of the noises from the U.S. camp coming out quite positively, talking up the prospect [2:05] of a deal at the same time that they're blockading the Strait of Hormuz and preventing Iranian oil [2:12] from getting out and from Iranian ships that go to Iranian ports getting through the Strait [2:18] of Hormuz. [2:19] So there's definitely a sense at the same time that they're trying to turn the screw, [2:23] but at the same time trying to send out perhaps public overtures that they are looking to get [2:28] some sort of peace. [2:29] Vice President J.D. [2:31] Vance said that what President Trump wanted to do is to treat Iran as a normal country economically [2:37] in a way that it perhaps hadn't done and that he thinks that Iran can thrive. [2:41] So that's the message falling with our demands. [2:44] And the key demand here is to give up any hope for a nuclear weapon from Iran and even [2:49] nuclear activity. [2:51] But this is what you get, a release perhaps from economic sanctions that you'll be did, [2:56] that you'll be treated as a normal country economically. [2:59] And that's what we can offer you. [3:01] So, John, as we wait to find out if diplomacy can continue going forward, I want to ask you [3:06] also if any more details have emerged about the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports along [3:11] the Strait of Hormuz, like how it's being put together or how it's intended to work going [3:16] forward. [3:18] Yeah, I think you mentioned the main deal, Mohammed, which is that the U.S. Army authority that's [3:25] in charge of this, which is U.S. Central Command, has said that not a single ship has got through. [3:29] We were hearing differently yesterday that one ship might have got through the blockade, [3:33] but it seems that it only got through the Strait of Hormuz itself and is now stuck on the [3:38] other side of it in front of the blockade. [3:40] They said that they'd sent six vessels back the way they came and they went when they [3:44] were ordered to. [3:46] There's a huge naval force that the U.S. has gathered to try and enforce this blockade. [3:51] More than a dozen warships, they say dozens of aircraft, 10,000 plus personnel there, whether [3:59] they be Marines or soldiers or airmen who are all working together to keep this blockade [4:06] going. That's obviously quite an expense and it's also a diplomatic expense. [4:10] A lot of Iranian oil, for example, goes towards China. [4:14] That's Iran's biggest customer and about a third of China's domestic oil needs are met [4:19] from Iran. [4:20] So the longer that this goes on, the more those needs aren't going to be met. [4:24] Will that then make China put pressure on Iran to negotiate with the United States or [4:28] just anger that country? [4:30] We don't know yet. [4:31] So there is a gamble here and there is also a sense that the longer that this blockade goes [4:36] on, the more it makes things economically worse for the global energy market, but also [4:41] for by the United States that's not immune to that. [4:45] So there's a lot of different factors. [4:47] But for the moment, the blockade continues and the hope of further talks in a couple of [4:52] days if President Trump's remarks be taken at face value is also there in the air. [4:59] All right. That sounds like yours. John Holman live for us with all the latest in Washington, [5:03] D.C. John, thanks so much for breaking that all down for us.