appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

Agence France-Presse

J.D. Vance had two jobs last week: get an Iran deal and keep Hungary’s Viktor Orban in power. Neither happened for the US vice-president.
The 41-year-old Vance looked exhausted as he left Pakistan on Sunday after 21 hours that failed to produce an agreement with Tehran to end a war he had never wanted to begin with.
At a terse press conference in Islamabad, Vance delivered the “bad news” and took just three questions before getting on a plane for the long flight back home.
But just before landing there was more bad news.
Days after he rallied with Orban on stage in Budapest, the long-serving Hungarian prime minister had conceded defeat in elections despite an all-out effort by Donald Trump’s administration to save him.
It was a double reality check for the ambitious Vance, who is widely tipped as a front-runner in the race to being named heir to Trump in the 2028 US presidential election.

On Hungary, Vance insisted that it was still worth the Trump administration backing a man it views as its Maga disciple in Europe.
“It wasn’t a bad trip at all, because it’s worth standing by people even though you don’t win every race,” Vance told Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier on Monday.
“We didn’t go because we expected him to cruise to an election victory. We went because we thought it was the right thing to do.”
As one of the administration’s most fervent supporters of far-right parties in Europe, Vance was the ideal person to go and support Orban, on paper.
In Budapest, Vance hailed Orban, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as to Trump, as a “model” for Europe.
But Vance’s appearance alongside Orban means the White House effectively owned the defeat of one of its closest allies - and the first major setback for its official national security strategy of backing European anti-immigration parties.

In Pakistan, Vance faced a very different, and arguably even tougher, challenge.
The former Ohio senator built his political brand around his anti-interventionism, and was among the most vocal opponents of the Iran war in Trump’s cabinet behind the scenes.
Yet Vance then found himself leading the delegation in the highest-level talks with Tehran for half a century, as he sought to negotiate a way out of one of the foreign wars he had long railed against.
Vance’s frustration was clear as he addressed the media after the marathon talks that went through the night in Islamabad but failed to produce a deal to turn a two-week ceasefire into lasting peace.
“We go back to the United States having not gone come to an agreement,” he told reporters in the Pakistani capital on Sunday morning.
But a day later, Vance was casting things in a more positive light.

“I wouldn’t just say that things went wrong, I also think things went right,” Vance told Fox. “We made a lot of progress.”
The fate of the US-Iran talks remains up in the air, with Trump saying that Iranian representatives had called and still wanted to make a deal - even as Washington imposed a naval blockade on Iran’s ports.
Vance said the “ball is in Iran’s court” when it comes to further talks but did not rule them out.
The effect on Vance’s political ambitions also remains unclear.
The battle for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination will begin in earnest after November’s US midterm elections, with Vance expected to face off against Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
But while a vice-president’s role provides increased visibility for a potential candidate, it can also tie them to the outgoing president’s policies - which in Trump’s case were increasingly unpopular.


Trump will head to Beijing amid warming trend in sentiment about China at home

China set to issue US$2.3b in offshore bonds as demand for yuan-backed assets grows

South Korea jails US YouTuber Johnny Somali for kissing ‘comfort women’ statue

Hong Kong is the perfect complement to Dubai, not a replacement

United States

Double defeat for Vance as failed Iran talks and Orban’s exit bruise US vice-president

US Vice-President J.D. Vance in Islamabad for Iran talks on Saturday. Photo: AP

US Vice-President J.D. Vance after meeting with representatives from Pakistan and Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan. Photo: AP

US Vice-President J.D. Vance with Viktor Orban last week. Orban was ousted as Hungary’s prime minister in an election on Sunday. Photo: AP

US-Vice-President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Photo: AP

US begins blockade of Iranian ports amid fragile ceasefire, Tehran threatens retaliation

A giant billboard reading ‘The Strait of Hormuz remains closed’ in Tehran, Iran. Photo: AFP

A stack of copies of the Iranian daily newspaper Jame Jam with the headline ‘Sea Bluff’. Photo: EPA

China says open Strait of Hormuz crucial for global interests as Trump blockade looms

US President Donald Trump has said that the “the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz”. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory/AFP

Hungary’s Orban concedes defeat as voters deliver sweeping rebuke to 16-year rule

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban concedes defeat in parliamentary elections to his rival, conservative Peter Magyar, a former government insider and political newcomer who has promised “system change”. Photo: AFP

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban conceded defeat in parliamentary elections to his rival, conservative Peter Magyar, a former government insider and political newcomer who has promised “system change”. Photo: AFP

Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party, waves a national flag during a rally in Debrecen, Hungary, on Saturday. Photo: AP

US Vice-President J.D. Vance and second lady Usha Vance arrive at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport on April 7. Photo: Reuters

Supporters of Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party, celebrate in Budapest after the election. Photo: AP

‘The president loves you’: Vance visits Hungary to boost Orban re-election bid

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (right) welcomes US Vice-President J.D. Vance in front of his office in Budapest, Hungary on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (left) and US Vice-President J.D. Vance talk on the terrace of Orban’s office in Budapest. Photo: EPA

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks during an election campaign rally in Gyor on March 27, 2026. Photo: Reuters

Hungarian opposition party Tisza’s newspaper at an electoral campaign booth in the streets of Budapest on February 14, 2026. Photo: AFP

News

World

United States & Canada

J.D. Vance returns to Washington empty-handed after a diplomatic tour that saw the fall of a key European ally and a stalemate in Islamabad


J.D. Vance returns to Washington empty-handed after a diplomatic tour that saw the fall of a key European ally and a stalemate in Islamabad.


Double defeat for Vance as failed Iran talks and Orban’s exit bruise US vice-president

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}J.D. Vance returns to Washington empty-handed after a diplomatic tour that saw the fall of a key European ally and a stalemate in Islamabad

J.D. Vance returns to Washington empty-handed after a diplomatic tour that saw the fall of a key European ally and a stalemate in Islamabad