US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Burgenstock, Switzerland, on Sunday for a second round of talks with Iranian negotiators, as fighting in Lebanon threatened to unravel a fragile ceasefire deal.
The talks follow a memorandum of understanding signed earlier in June extending the truce that ended the months-long war, which began in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
The agreement was meant to also halt the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon, but renewed Israeli strikes there pushed Iran to threaten closing the Strait of Hormuz again.Vance told reporters before departing Joint Base Andrews he hoped to “make progress on the nuclear issue” and the Lebanon ceasefire, though he could only stay “a day or two.”
Iran’s delegation, led by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, arrived Saturday night, with mediators from Pakistan and Qatar also present.Iranian officials voiced skepticism.
Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, warned against optimism, accusing the US of having “shown itself to be a promise-breaker.” Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Tehran would demand the US uphold its commitments or risk collapsing the entire understanding.
The talks aim to launch a two-month negotiating window covering Iran’s nuclear program and sanctions relief. They come after Friday’s planned session was postponed when Israel struck Lebanon following the deaths of four soldiers in combat there — prompting Iran to again threaten the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil route. US Central Command said passage through the strait “remained intact” despite the threat.
