Vance and Iranian Delegation Begin Switzerland Talks Amid Strait Closure Tensions
Mediators Pakistan and Qatar also join in
U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived at a Swiss mountain resort on Sunday for the first round of peace talks with Iranian officials under a tentative agreement aimed at ending the conflict. However, the diplomatic effort was quickly overshadowed by Tehran's announcement that it had reinstated its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
The memorandum of understanding reached a week earlier outlines steps toward ending the war, including reopening the strategic waterway and halting all hostilities, among them the fighting in Lebanon, where Israel launched a military campaign in March.
With little indication that the violence is easing, Iran said on Saturday that it had once again closed the Strait.
U.S. officials challenged that claim, saying 55 merchant vessels transited the Strait on Saturday. But on Sunday, Iran's Fars news agency quoted a military source as saying that no new permits for ships to pass through the waterway were being issued until further notice.
Oil Prices Tumbled After Agreement Announced
U.S. President Donald Trump said the memorandum of understanding reached last week was designed to prevent a global economic downturn that could be triggered by soaring oil prices if the Strait remained shut.
Oil prices have fallen sharply since the agreement was announced, reaching their lowest levels since the conflict began. However, the renewed blockade threatens to reverse that trend, raising the prospect of a fresh spike in prices when markets reopen on Monday.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Sunday's negotiations at the scenic, Qatari-owned Buergenstock resort in Switzerland would last only one day. The talks involve Iran and the United States, with Qatar and Pakistan serving as mediators.
Baghaei said the discussions would focus solely on implementing the memorandum of understanding, arguing that Washington had failed to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon. As a result, substantive issues intended for the next phase of negotiations would not be addressed.
Vance Hopes for Progress
The memorandum of understanding envisions a 60-day negotiating period focused on key issues, including limits on Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for the gradual removal of international sanctions. Tehran is also expected to receive early economic relief through sanctions waivers and the release of frozen assets.
The U.S. delegation is headed by Vice President JD Vance, while Iran is represented by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. The two last met during what remains the only publicly known face-to-face encounter between the sides, more than two months ago.
Before departing from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Vance expressed cautious optimism about the talks.
"I think we're going to hopefully make progress on the nuclear issue and make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue," he told reporters, adding that discussions were likely to continue for "a couple of days.
On Saturday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards, accusing Israel of "crimes" in Lebanon that violated US commitments to the ceasefire, said ships would be at risk if they approached the Strait, which carried a fifth of global oil supplies before the US and Israel launched attacks on February 28.
Ceasefires have been repeatedly announced in Lebanon, most recently on Friday, but appear to have had little impact so far on the fighting there, with more than a million people driven from their homes by Israel's invasion.
Authorities Say 20 Killed in Lebanon on Saturday
Reuters journalists in southern Lebanon saw rescuers on Saturday carrying wounded at the sites of Israeli attacks, which have reduced swathes of Lebanese towns and villages to ruins of concrete rubble that residents say resemble the Gaza Strip. Lebanese authorities say 20 people were killed on Saturday.
The army said on Sunday that specialised units were still working to dismantle unexploded Israeli bombs weighing 1,000 and 2,000 pounds that had been dropped on southern towns. The army had opened some roads, but urged residents to delay returning to border villages and to follow instructions from soldiers to ensure safety amid ongoing Israeli attacks.Trump's memorandum to end the war, which he jointly launched alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February, is deeply unpopular in Israel, which did not participate in the peace talks.
Netanyahu's government says it will not withdraw from a swathe of Lebanon it seized after Hezbollah fighters fired across the border into Israel in solidarity with Tehran.
The Iranian delegation at the talks includes Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi as well as senior security, central bank and oil officials, Iranian media said. In addition to Vance, the US negotiating team includes envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law.
None of War Objectives Achieved
Pakistan said its Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the army chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, had arrived to join the talks at the resort, where helicopters hovered overhead.
In an interview with Fox News before leaving the United States, Vance said he was confident the ceasefire would hold and he had seen no evidence of the Strait of Hormuz being closed.
After Trump and Netanyahu launched the war in February, they said their aims were to destroy Iran's nuclear programme, halt its ability to threaten neighbours with missiles and proxy forces, and make it possible for Iranians to topple the government.
None of those objectives has been achieved, although US officials say they inflicted severe damage on Iran's military and still expect a strong agreement that will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
A poll by Israel's Hebrew University, provided to Reuters, showed about 92 percent of Israelis believe Iran benefited more than Israel from the joint Israeli-US military campaign, while just 8 percent see Israel as having emerged victorious.
Almost 90 percent of Israelis said war goals had not been met and fewer than 30 percent believe Netanyahu's claims of major achievements.
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