𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Sir Keir Starmer has urged America and Iran to avoid “any further escalation” after historic peace talks broke down.

The shaky two-week truce between Washington and Tehran has been thrown into doubt after the 21-hour negotiations in Pakistan ended without a long-term agreement.

US Vice President JD Vance said Iran failed to offer a “long-term” commitment never to develop nuclear weapons.

And Sir Keir, in a call with the Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tarik al Said, insisted it is “vital” there is a “continuation of the ceasefire”.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said on Sunday morning: “The Prime Minister spoke to the Sultan of Oman, His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik al Said, this morning.

“They discussed the peace talks held in Pakistan over the weekend and urged both sides to find a way through. It was vital there was a continuation of the ceasefire, and that all parties avoided any further escalation, the leaders agreed.

“His majesty updated on the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Prime Minister thanked him for Oman’s efforts to rescue sailors from vessels in distress in the region.

“Reflecting on international efforts to co-ordinate safe passage for shipping in the region, the Prime Minister said that following meetings convened by the Foreign Secretary and British military planners, partners continued to work towards restoring freedom of navigation for the long term.”

President Trump said on Saturday that the US was “now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the World”.

Several US military vessels entered the strait, a vital shipping lane through which about a fifth of the world’s oil flows.

In response, an ­Iranian state news agency said Tehran had threatened to attack any military ship attempting the journey.

The talks marked the first time a US politician as senior as the vice-president had met face-to-face with Iran since the fall of the last Shah, almost 50 years ago.

Mr Vance said: “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.”

Mr Vance told reporters just after 6am local time (3am UK) that the US delegation was leaving after putting forward a “final and best offer” that the Iranians had “chosen not to accept”.

“So we go back to the United States having not come to an agreement,” he added. “We’ve made very clear what our red lines are.”

A spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry said talks had been “intense” and accused Washington of making “excessive demands”.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led Tehran’s delegation in the Pakistan talks, says now is the time for the US “to decide whether it can earn our trust or not”.

In a post on X, Ghalibaf says he emphasised before the negotiations that Iran had “good faith and will” but due to its experiences of two previous wars it had “no trust in the opposing side”.

He says the Iranian delegation “raised forward-looking initiatives, but the opposing side ultimately failed to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation in this round of negotiations”.

He added: “We will not for a moment cease our efforts to consolidate the achievements of the forty days of Iran’s national defense.”

He adds that the negotiations were “intense” and thanks Pakistan for facilitating them.