US Vice President JD Vance said Iran holds the deciding hand in what comes next in the Middle East conflict, while rejecting reports that recent peace talks in Pakistan ended in failure.

Vance’s remarks in an interview with Fox News come after his weekend trip to Pakistan for face-to-face negotiations with Iranian officials – talks that reports suggested produced no breakthrough.

“The ball is very much in their court,” Vance told “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier on Monday. “You ask what happens next, I think the Iranians are going to determine what happens next.”

Vance said there were “good conversations” during the weekend talks that helped clarify U.S. priorities, including the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial international oil route.

“I wouldn’t just say that things went wrong. I also think things went right. We made a lot of progress,” he said, according to Fox News.

“They moved in our direction, which is why I think we would say that we had some good signs, but they didn’t move far enough.”

Vance told Fox News that the Pakistan peace talks ultimately ended because Iranian negotiators were unable to finalize a deal, adding that the discussions revealed insights into who holds decision-making authority in Tehran.

“We acquired some knowledge about how the Iranians are negotiating, and this is ultimately why we left Pakistan,” he said.

“What we figured out is that they were unable, I think — the team that was there, was unable to cut a deal,” he explained. “They had to go back to Tehran, either from the supreme leader or somebody else, and actually get approval to the terms that we had set.”

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump instituted a naval blockade of all Iranian ports Monday, 

“What they [Iranians] have done is engage in this act of economic terrorism against the entire world. They’ve basically threatened any ship that’s moving through the Straits of Hormuz. Well, as the President of the United States showed, two can play at that game,” Vance said.

U.S. navy ships have been ordered to identify and flag any Iran-affiliated vessels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.

Vance said that given the United States’ ceasefire agreement, he expects Iran to fully reopen the critical trade route, but admitted that it was a goal point that Iranians “tried to move” during the Pakistan talks.