Vance’s push to get Iran talks started hits an early bump as weekend negotiations are put on hold
ZURICH: The US push to quickly begin high-stakes talks with Iran hit a snag just two days after the signing of an agreement that opens a on Iran’s nuclear program and getting oil traffic moving through the Strait of Hormuz back to prewar levels.
Vice President JD Vance had been prepared to make an overnight flight Friday to meet with his Iranian counterparts at a mountainside resort in the tiny Swiss village of Obbürgen and begin the technical talks.
His staff and a small pack of journalists had even gathered at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington in anticipation of the trip. Meanwhile, dozens of White House officials,The White House issued a statement explaining Vance — who has been tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the negotiations — and his delegation were prepared for talks, but they were unable to finalise plans and the vice president would remain in Washington.
“The logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable,” the statement noted.
The announcement followed a report from Al-Mayadeen, a Pan-Arab satellite channel that is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, that Iran was delaying sending its delegation to Switzerland over Israel’s ongoing military campaign inIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel’s military will stay in a “security zone” of southern Lebanon as long as “Israel’s security needs require it.”
Israel and Hezbollah are not parties to the agreement. Iran insists Israel must withdraw from the large swath of southern Lebanon it is occupying, but the wording of the interim deal doesn’t explicitly require that and only ensures Lebanon’s “territorial integrity.”
Hours before postponing his trip, Vance gave some indication of the state of flux when he told reporters at a White House briefing that he was uncertain if the talks wereOur plan is to go to Switzerland, I don’t know exactly when,” Vance told reporters. “We think these technical negotiations start sometime this weekend. That’s still the plan. But that could change.”It is obvious that the face-to-face negotiations that will be held in the future will not mean accepting the enemy’s opinion,” Khamenei said in his statement.Vance was initially expected to go to Switzerland to sign the agreement at a formal ceremony. Instead, Trump signed the document Wednesday during a glitzy dinner at the Palace of Versailles with French President Emmanuel Macron. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian separately signed the agreement.
The agreement states that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under rubble left by US military strikes last year targeting Tehran’s key nuclear sites, must at minimum be diluted under international supervision.
It also states that Iran shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons — a commitment it has
The messaging seemed to give Khamenei, who was badly wounded in the Feb. 28 US strike that killed his father, some maneuverability. Hard-liners in the Iranian government, including Khamenei’s father, have long opposed direct talks with the White House, especially after Trump, during his first term, pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration.