U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Sunday there was an opportunity to “turn over a new leaf” with Iran as the sides launched talks aimed at building out the interim deal to end the war in Iran reached by the two sides last week.
Vance is holding talks with Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, at a Swiss mountainside resort near Lake Lucerne. Mediators from Pakistan and Qatar were also in the room for the direct engagement.
The U.S. is looking to get Iran locked into negotiations over its nuclear program amid concerns it may be used for military purposes, which Iran denies. Mr. Vance also wants to push Tehran to commit to keeping open the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway through which about a fifth of world traded oil passes.
But the on-again, off-again conflict in Lebanon, between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants, continues to threaten to derail the effort for the U.S. to win concessions from Tehran on its nuclear program and keep the Strait of Hormuz open.
“The question before us now is how much more can we accomplish together? Can we turn over a new leaf?” Mr. Vance said in brief comments as the talks, dubbed the “Lake Lucerne Summit,” got underway.
“Can we change relations in the Middle East permanently, or do we go back to doing things the old way, which is not our preference, but is certainly very much something that can happen.”
Iran first wants to focus on Israeli strikes in Lebanon
Iran’s main focus during negotiations on Sunday would be the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told Iran’s state news agency ahead of the meeting with Mr. Vance.
The interim agreement was signed last week, and now top American and Iranian negotiators are in a 60-day sprint to reach an agreement on the technical details that hold massive implications for the world economy and global security.
Yet only days after signing the agreement, it is being stress-tested after fighting escalated in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah — and by the subsequent announcement by Iran’s military that it had again closed the vital waterway that transits one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas. A renewed ceasefire in Lebanon, brokered on Saturday, appeared to be holding.
Mr. Vance stressed that “great progress” had been made on Lebanon. But minutes after he was finished speaking, President Donald Trump took to social media to threaten Iran if it didn’t rein in Hezbollah.
“If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” Mr. Trump wrote.
Iran is cautiously approaching the talks given its previous experience with the U.S. negotiations on the nuclear issue, which twice in the past year have been interrupted by massive military strikes against the country. “The implementation of any document is more important than its signing,” Mr. Baghaei said Sunday.
Iran’s president added that Iran will maintain its right to a nuclear program.
“What is certain is that we will never back down from the right to enrich uranium, and the other side is also forced to accept it,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday, according to Iran’s state media.
A delayed meeting is now back on
Mr. Vance had originally been slated to be on the ground at the Bürgenstock resort near Lucerne on Friday, but his departure from the United States was delayed after fighting escalated in Lebanon and Iranian officials canceled plans to attend the talks.
U.S. Central Command disputed Iran’s claim that it had once again shuttered the strait and said U.S. forces continued to monitor the situation to ensure traffic continues to flow through the waterway. Mr. Vance has said that millions of barrels of oil have moved through the strait in recent days.
Mr. Vance departed the U.S. just after Iranian state TV said Iran’s negotiators had arrived in Switzerland.
The vice president was joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, for Sunday’s talks. Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner were on the ground in Switzerland ahead of Mr. Vance to begin sifting through the technical details of the nuclear talks.
Mr. Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, arrived at Emmen Air Base outside Lucerne just before 6 a.m. local time, according to his office.
While Mr. Vance said he planned to be in Switzerland for just “a day or two,” leaving much of the detailed negotiations to be spearheaded by Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner, his role in the talks has heightened scrutiny of the vice president at a time when he’s actively considering a 2028 presidential campaign.
The deal has stirred much controversy
Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance have come under searing criticism from parts of their own party for the deal, with Republican hard-liners unfavorably likening it to a nuclear agreement signed by the Obama administration that Mr. Trump and the GOP have insisted did nothing to actually terminate Iran’s nuclear program.
The agreement signed by Mr. Trump and Iranian President Pezeshkian immediately allows Tehran to sell its oil freely and paves the way for Iran to tap into billions of dollars in assets that are currently frozen. It also calls for Iran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, believed to be buried under nuclear sites that were targeted in U.S. strikes last summer.
The agreement says commercial vessels can pass through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days without a charge, but does not preclude future fees imposed by Iran. Mr. Trump made his own threat on Saturday to levy U.S. tolls on the strait if there is no deal with Iran in 60 days, insisting in a social media post that the money would be for “services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East.”
The Trump administration has been working to reassure global markets that the Iran war has been merely a blip on oil prices, as Americans complain the conflict resulted in hiking gasoline prices ahead of peak summer travel months. After the White House announced the deal a week ago, oil futures dropped almost 8% — and markets are expected to closely track the progress of talks when they open for trading on Sunday evening.
Further complicating matters, neither Israel nor Hezbollah is a signatory to the deal between the U.S. and Iran, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep his forces in southern Lebanon until any threat to Israel is eliminated. Hezbollah has refused to halt its attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawing from Lebanon.
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This story was reported by The Associated Press. Kim reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.