Why U.S.-Iran Negotiations Failed

What It Covers

After 21 hours of US-Iran negotiations in Islamabad collapsed without a deal, NYT journalists Mark Mazzetti and Ronen Bergman explain how Israel's unauthorized large-scale strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon are fracturing the US-Israel alliance and blocking any path toward a durable ceasefire agreement.

Key Questions Answered

• •US-Iran deadlock: Three concrete obstacles block any nuclear deal: Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, holds a stockpile of highly enriched uranium the US demands it surrender, and requires sanctions relief Washington resists granting. After 21 hours of talks in Islamabad, no progress was made on any of these three fronts before the American delegation departed.
• •Lebanon as the hidden dealbreaker: Iran insists that any ceasefire covering Iranian territory must simultaneously halt Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel refuses this linkage entirely. This single disagreement — not the nuclear file — is the primary reason negotiations collapsed, and Iran is now using it as direct leverage against Washington's desire to end the war.
• •Netanyahu's strategic miscalculation: After Israel's September 2024 pager operation killed roughly 3,500 Hezbollah operatives and eliminated top commanders, Netanyahu publicly declared Hezbollah dismantled and safe for northern Israeli residents to return home. Hezbollah's subsequent missile strikes on Tel Aviv exposed that declaration as premature, creating domestic political pressure on Netanyahu to finish the campaign.
• •Trump holds the exit lever: Netanyahu publicly acknowledged in a speech that this war ends only when Trump decides it ends — a statement understood throughout the IDF as a command structure reality. Analysts note that once Trump identifies Lebanon as the central obstacle to a deal, he will apply direct pressure on Netanyahu, who will not risk open confrontation with the US president.
• •Iran's axis of resistance logic: Iran founded Hezbollah in 1983-84 and built a regional proxy network — including Houthis, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Iraqi and Syrian militias — under the shared identity of the "axis of resistance." Abandoning Hezbollah under Israeli military pressure would signal to every remaining proxy that Iran will not defend its partners, collapsing the entire strategic architecture Iran has built over four decades.