Despite the Iran war, Donald Trump spent his Saturday evening at UFC 327 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.

A senior U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity told NBC News that negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan have continued into the early hours of the morning.

Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are meeting with an Iranian envoy led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.

“Fifteen hours and counting,” the White House official told the broadcaster.

“I won’t go into all the details, because I don’t want to negotiate in public after we negotiated for 21 hours in private, but the simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” said Vance from Pakistan.

“That is the core goal of the president United States, and that’s what we’ve tried to achieve through these negotiations.

“Again, their nuclear program, such as it is the enrichment facilities that they’ve that they had before they’ve been destroyed.

“But the simple question is, do we see a fundamental commitment of will for the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon, not just now, not just two years from now, but for the long term. We haven’t seen that yet. We hope that we will.”

The US vice president gave a short press conference on Sunday morning local time in Pakistan where he said the warring sides had failed to reach a peace agreement.

“We have been at it now for 21 hours, And we’ve had a number of substantive discussions with the Iranians that’s the good news,” he 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. So we go back to the United States, having not come to an agreement.

“We’ve made very clear what our red lines are what things we’re willing to accommodate them on and what things we’re not willing to accommodate them on, and we’ve made that as clear as we possibly could, and they have chosen not to accept our terms.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has reportedly said that Israel’s attacks on southern Lebanon are stirring tensions at the U.S.-Iran peace talks in Islamabad, according to Iran’s state-sponsored news agency Mehr.

The comments were reportedly made during a phone call between Pezeshkian and French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday.

The U.S. military claims that two of its destroyers safely traversed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, according to the Associated Press.

The ships traveled through the strait ahead of upcoming mine-clearing operations.

Iran’s state media is denying the report, saying that its military command denied the U.S. Navy access to the strait.

The Pope issued a rebuke to the world’s warring nations on Saturday.

“Those who pray are aware of their own limitations; they do not kill or threaten with death. Instead, death enslaves those who have turned their backs on the living God, turning themselves and their own power into a mute, blind and deaf idol (Ps 115:4–8), to which they sacrifice every value, demanding that the whole world bend its knee. Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life. #Peace”

The Pope’s message comes as American and Iranian leaders meet to discuss an end to hostilities amid the two week ceasefire.

President Donald Trump told CNN on Saturday that China will have “big problems” if Beijing sends weapons to Iran.

CNN’s Betsy Klein asked Trump about U.S. intelligence reports suggesting that China is preparing to arm Iran.

Trump said that doing so would cause serious issues with the U.S.

“If China does that, China will have big problems, OK?” he said on Saturday.

From The Independent’s Mike Bedigan:

Lindsey Graham dodged questions about whether the ongoing war in Iran will hurt Republican chances in the upcoming midterm elections.

The South Carolina senator, who has been one of the biggest champions of the U.S. military operations in the Middle East, trotted out previous party lines on the conflict, even when asked directly by Fox News’ Bret Baier

“Do you think this war that we’re in, and this fight over ICE, is hurting reelection chances for Republicans in the fall?” Baier said during the interview on Saturday.

“I think President Trump is stopping a homicidal maniac regime from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and if you don’t treat them that way, you’ve missed a lot in the last 47 years,” Graham replied.