U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Sunday is meeting with top Iranian officials as the White House looks to build out the interim deal to end the war in Iran reached by the two sides last week. Vance was meeting with Tehran’s negotiators, including 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 on-again, off-again conflict in Lebanon, between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants, continues to threaten to derail the effort.
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U.S. and Iranian negotiators are on their way to a venue in Switzerland to discuss details of their interim agreement to halt the war. This comes after Iran said it closed the Strait of Hormuz due to Israel’s attacks in Lebanon. U.S. President Donald Trump in response threatened to impose tolls in the waterway if a final deal isn't reached in 60 days. Talks mediated by Pakistan and Qatar are set to begin Sunday. The deal involves unfreezing billions of dollars of Iran’s assets, and Iran's negotiating team includes central bank and oil officials, among others.
The American push for high-stakes talks with Iran has hit a snag. Iranian officials didn't travel to Switzerland as planned for the talks and are insisting that fighting in Lebanon must stop first. That's according to three regional officials and person familiar with the matter. They weren't authorized to comment publicly. The officials say the situation is fluid as Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to renew their ceasefire after a period of intense fighting in southern Lebanon. Vice President JD Vance was prepared to meet with Iranian counterparts this weekend at a Swiss mountain resort before his trip was abruptly postponed.
Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group agreed to halt the heavy fighting in southern Lebanon that had threatened to unravel an interim peace agreement between the United States and Iran. That's according to officials who spoke Friday to The Associated Press. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah immediately confirmed the truce. It came after a heavy exchange of fire killed 47 people in Lebanon and four Israeli soldiers. Hezbollah and Israel went to war shortly after the outbreak of the wider conflict, with Hezbollah firing rockets and drones at civilian communities in northern Israel and Israel seizing large swaths of southern Lebanon.
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The White House says Vice President JD Vance is delaying his trip to Switzerland to lead nuclear negotiations with Iran. The postponement follows reports that Iran is delaying its delegation due to Israel's military actions in Lebanon. The U.S. recently lifted its blockade, allowing oil tankers to move through the Strait of Hormuz. This initial agreement has faced criticism for potentially conceding too much to Iran. Vance defends the deal, stating Iran must comply with U.S. demands first. The agreement requires Iran to dilute its uranium stockpile and renounce nuclear ambitions. Shipping through the strait has started to normalize.
Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are voicing strong reservations —- and some outright condemnation — of the Trump administration’s agreement to end the fighting in Iran. The lifting of economic sanctions on Iran’s sale of oil and the plan for a $300 billion fund to rebuild Iran were met with criticism from Republican leaders and conservative influencers, including some close supporters of President Donald Trump. The president called his critics “fools." The memorandum of understanding signed by Trump has started a 60-day negotiating clock to reach a final deal on the future of Iran’s nuclear program.
Vice President JD Vance has embraced the role of being the chief defender of the agreement he and President Donald Trump signed with Iran over the weekend. It’s a striking transformation for a politician that was known for his skepticism of foreign military interventions and who seemed reluctant to speak on the conflict when Trump launched it in late February. The vice president is poised to yoke himself further to the conflict’s outcome on Friday, when he’s expected to travel to Switzerland to kick off a new phase of negotiations with Tehran after Trump signed the agreement Wednesday.
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The agreement struck between the United States and Iran aims to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, ease sanctions on the Islamic Republ…
An initial agreement to end the war between the United States and Iran calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and would waive sanctions on the country, immediately allowing Iran to sell its oil freely. That's according to U.S. officials who read the language of the memorandum on ending the war to journalists on Wednesday. Iran also released a similar version of the accord. The agreement would also open the Strait of Hormuz toll-free for two months and affirm a commitment to Lebanon’s territorial integrity in the face of Israel’s invasion against the Hezbollah militant group. Both the U.S. and Iranian presidents have signed the deal.
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The interim deal between the U.S. and Iran is supposed to usher in a two-month period that would address Tehran’s nuclear program. Preventing Iran from attaining a nuclear bomb is a key reason that President Donald Trump says he launched the war alongside Israel in February. But the tentative agreement leaves little runway to negotiate the long-running sticking point. The previous nuclear pact between Iran and world powers that Trump pulled the U.S. from in his first term took many months to negotiate. There's deep skepticism among Republican and Democratic lawmakers and others that the new deal will have any effect on nuclear talks.