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US Vice President JD Vance has arrived in Switzerland to hold talks with Iranian officials to reach a long-term deal to end the US. war and Iran.
The US and Iran earlier this week agreed to extend a 60-day ceasefire in talks, but the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israel’s attack on Lebanon, although the US military said commercial ships were still operating.
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Talks, including mediation, are expected to begin in Switzerland in the Buergenstock mountains “in the morning,” the Swiss Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
The delegation is to be led by Vance and Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
“I think we’re going to make progress on the issue of nuclear weapons, we’re going to make progress on the issue of ending the war in Lebanon,” with “several days of negotiations”, Vance told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before departing for Switzerland.
The Iranian delegation arrived in Switzerland late Saturday, state media and the Swiss Foreign Ministry said, while an Iranian journalist announced that it included parliament speaker Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Mediator Pakistan said that its Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the army chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, will also arrive in Switzerland to participate in the talks.
Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, who is based in Buergenstock, Switzerland, said that the sides will try to resolve the differences between their positions during the talks.
“That’s why you’re seeing such high participation,” he said.
“The US immediately wants to enter the nuclear issue. The Iranians want an end to the war in Lebanon,” our reporter said.
A ceasefire in Lebanon was one of the conditions agreed this week in a long-term deal to extend the US-Iran ceasefire for 60 days and begin talks on Tehran’s nuclear program and other issues.
But the agreement is already coming, when Israel continued to attack Lebanon on Saturday, killing many people, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran said that it was firing. he announced The Strait of Hormuz was closed. The US military said commercial vessels continued to operate in the waterway.
Describing what it called Israel’s “crimes” in Lebanon that violated the US cease fire, the IRGC warned ships would be at risk if they approached the channel, an important oil and gas supply route for the world.
But the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said 55 commercial ships passed through the river on Saturday, with more than 17 million barrels of oil bound for international markets. The US military will ensure traffic continues, CENTCOM said.
Trump said no one can be charged to break through the crisis during or after the end of the 60 days – unless the US forces the peace talks to fail.
In social media, he also mentioned the possibility of interest paid by the US “for the services provided as a Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East” if the agreement to end the war is not concluded.
Wolfgang Pusztai, a security expert and former aide to the Austrian government, said Iran should be wary of the new threat to close the Strait of Hormuz because the vital waterway serves Tehran’s allies more than its enemies.
“The Strait of Hormuz is very important tool in the way of Iran. There is no doubt about it. But Iran should be careful not to overplay the card,” said Pusztai.
“One must remember that most of the ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz are not going to the United States or Europe, they are going to India, China and Pakistan.
Iran wants to implement the agreement
These developments may hamper the negotiations to improve the cooperation that has been made with Pakistan and he signed Wednesday with President Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian to end the four-month war.
Mohammad Mokhber, adviser to the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, criticized the US on X for failing to implement the first clause of its 14-point agreement with Iran, which seeks to end the war “on all sides”, including Lebanon.
He said that if the agreement is not fulfilled, the flow of energy to the region will be stopped.
Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar Atas, from Tehran, said the Iranian delegation in Switzerland should focus on paragraphs 1, 4, 5, 10 and 11 of the memorandum of understanding (MoU).
“These include the end of violence in Lebanon, the removal of the US embargo, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the release of cooling supplies to Iran and, the removal of US sanctions on Iran’s oil and petrochemical products and other sectors,” said our correspondent.
“So the Iranian people are not looking for these files to be completed in one meeting here, but they want to start implementing them,” he said.
“Why is Lebanon so important to Iran? All in all, it is about the state of Iran. So if Iran wants to remain as a regional power, Tehran must maintain the opposition alliance. Iran has invested in Hezbollah for many years.
Lebanon’s unity looked fragile as Israeli forces continued to attack the country on Saturday, killing dozens, according to Lebanese media.
The Iran-allied Hezbollah group also announced an attack on Israeli forces.
Israel said it was responding to Hezbollah’s attack, while Iranian fighters said Israel had repeatedly violated the accord since Friday, and would not allow Israel “freedom of movement” in Lebanon.
The Israeli military said one soldier was killed in the fighting, the fifth death since the US-Iran deal was reached.
Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 reported late Saturday that the prime minister and defense minister had ordered the army to open fire in Lebanon, but that the army had withdrawn from the occupied territory.
