'Tall order' to expect US and Iran to make peace deal but 'we can't give up hope', Wes Streeting tells LBC
The Health Secretary told LBC there is still a willingness to end this war from Iran and the US despite peace talks collapsing last night
It was "a tall order" to expect US and Iranian negotiators to come to an agreement during peace talks in Islamabad last night, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has told LBC - as he urged the world not to give up hope.
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The US and Iran failed to strike a deal following 21 hours of crunch talks in Pakistan led by US Vice President JD Vance. Vance pointed to Iran’s refusal to commit to not build a nuclear weapon, leaving uncertainty over the shaky two-week truce.
Speaking to LBC, Wes Streeting said it is not surprising that talks collapsed - but he stressed that the world should not yet give up on the prospect of peace being achieved down the line.
“I don't think we should be too surprised. It was a tall order to expect that these talks would end now in an agreement, and it is the nature of diplomacy that you fail every day until you succeed,” he told Lewis Goodall on Sunday.
Mr Streeting added: “While these talks may have broken down, that doesn't mean we should give up hope.
“The only way through this is a negotiated settlement and one that puts Iran's nuclear ambitions out of reach and brings them to an end for the safety and security of the world, but also ends this war. So I think we have to watch this space.”
Read more: Rachel Reeves warns Iran war will ‘cost British families and businesses’ as prices surge
Mr Streeting did admit that there is a “risk” that direct conflict breaks out again during the two-week ceasefire deal previously agreed on by Iran and the US.
Mr Streeting added: “But we have also seen from the US and from Iran, just by virtue of having been present at the talks in Pakistan, a willingness to end this war.”
"As we are seeing and feeling, the war in Iran is not contained in Iran and the effects are global. So the rest of us, who have rightly, in my view, chosen not to join the war in Iran, are hoping that it comes to an end for the benefit of all of us.”
Iran has since said it has no plans for further negotiations and warned it is in "no hurry" to reopen the Strait of Hormuz - which some reports suggest was the biggest point of tension at the trilateral talks.
Sir Keir Starmer has urged the US and Iran “to find a way through” after the failure of peace talks, as he also called for the fragile ceasefire to continue and warned against any further escalation.
The Prime Minister discussed Washington and Tehran’s negotiations with the Sultan of Oman after the two sides’ 21-hour session in Pakistan ended without an agreement in the early hours of Sunday.
Hundreds of tankers remain stuck in the Gulf as they wait to exit via the Strait - a vital waterway through which vast quantities of global oil supplies pass through.
It comes as US officials have alleged that “haphazardly” laid mines have left tankers at risk of being blown up while Iran is unable to locate all of the explosives, the New York Times reports.
The US military said on Saturday that their troops “began setting conditions for clearing mines in the strait”, with two navy guided-missile destroyers conducting operations.
Trump told reporters as talks dragged into the night: “We’re sweeping the strait. Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me".
Earlier, he said that the only reason Iranians “are alive today” is to negotiate the reopening of the blockaded Strait.
“The Iranians don’t seem to realise they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.