Iran-US peace talks continue into the night
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 11 April 2026
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
US and Iranian officials are continuing with their direct talks with Pakistan in Islamabad on bringing an end to conflict in the Middle East. The US Central Command says two American navy ships have sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, in the first such move since the war with Iran began. President Trump had earlier said Washington had started clearing mines from the waterway, a claim denied by Tehran.
Also in the programme: Hungary prepares to go to the polls; and how British exceptionalism led the Cambridge five who spied to despise the people they betrayed.
(Photo: Vice President JD Vance walks up a flight of stairs to meet with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for talks about Iran, Saturday, April 11, 2026, in Islamabad. CREDIT: Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via REUTERS)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:08.8 | Hello and welcome to News Hour from the World Service of the BBC coming live from London. |
| 0:14.0 | This is Owen Bennett Jones. |
| 0:15.3 | There were some important uncertainties about today's Iran-U.S. talks in Islamabad? Would Iran turn up? It did. |
| 0:24.8 | Would the two talks talk directly? Again, they did. Would they achieve anything? Well, that's not |
| 0:30.8 | clear, but there are indications that something may be happening. Lees Doucette is in Islamabad, |
| 0:36.4 | for us, our chief international correspondent. We were just speaking a few moments ago, Lees Doucette is in Islamabad, for us our chief international correspondent. |
| 0:38.3 | We were just speaking a few moments ago, Lees, before we came on air. |
| 0:41.0 | And it sounds like things may be happening. |
| 0:43.7 | What have you got? |
| 0:45.8 | What we're seeing, Owen, is something we've never seen before in the recent years. |
| 0:49.4 | In fact, any of the years since the 2015 nuclear negotiations, first of all, the high level of the two |
| 0:57.6 | delegations, the Iranian and the Americans. And there was this question, first of all, |
| 1:02.6 | whether or not the talks would happen at all. And then at the beginning of the day, |
| 1:07.1 | there was constant speculation. Would the two delegations meet? |
| 1:10.9 | Would they meet face to face? |
| 1:12.0 | Would be in the same room? |
| 1:13.4 | And they have started direct talks face to face about seven hours ago around 5 p.m. |
| 1:21.1 | It's now just past 1 o'clock in the morning here in Islamabad and they are still talking and not just the high level |
| 1:29.5 | officials talking technical teams have also broken up experts in maritime financial assets legal |
| 1:37.0 | maritime they're also having separate meetings and they're working on specific issues and there |
| 1:43.4 | well there had been a suggestion that the talks could go into a second day. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.