US Vice President JD Vance says “great progress” has already been made at talks between US and Iranian officials in Switzerland aimed at hammering out a long-term peace deal.
“What the president has asked us to do is turn over a new leaf to transform our relationship with the people of Iran,” Mr Vance said in the mountain resort of Burgenstock, where the talks kicked off just hours earlier on Sunday.
“We’ve already made great progress over just the last few hours, and I expect that we’ll make additional progress,” Vance said.
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The talks – dubbed the “Lake Lucerne Summit” – began on Sunday afternoon on the shore of Lake Lucerne.
According to the foreign ministry of Qatar, which is mediating between the warring countries alongside Pakistan, the initial high-level meeting involved representatives from the US and Iran as well as delegations from Pakistan and Qatar.
Qatar said there was hope that the meetings would lead to a “comprehensive and lasting agreement on all points within the framework agreement,” referring to a memorandum of understanding signed earlier this week by the United States and Iran that paved the way for the talks in Switzerland.
Under the terms of the memorandum, a final agreement on ending hostilities, as well as on Iran’s nuclear program, is to be reached within 60 days.
However, the talks have been overshadowed by ongoing clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in Lebanon, despite a ceasefire that is part of the memorandum.
“Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” US President Donald Trump said in an online post in apparent reference to an escalation he ordered earlier this month.
At the talks, Mr Vance played down the impact of violence in Lebanon, saying progress had been made towards ending hostilities there in recent days.
“These things are always a little bit messy,” he said.
Despite announcing a new ceasefire in Lebanon on Friday, there has been scant sign of an end to fighting there.
Iran’s military said on Saturday that as a result it had again shut down access through Strait of Hormuz, whose closure for nearly four months caused major disruptions to global energy supplies historically.
US officials disputed whether or not it was indeed shut but commercially available shipping data showed an immediate effect.
Only one small tanker crossed through after Iran’s announcement compared with dozens of ships moving recently when traffic levels were returning closer to pre-war status.
Earlier on Sunday, Mr Vance briefly appeared before traveling media while he met with envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner along with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan’s Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir.
Warm greetings were exchanged; Mr Vance greeted Mr Munir with “What’s up man?” while shaking hands with him and giving him a hug.“My brother,”Mr Munir said as he reached out for Witkoff’s hand before embracing him.
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Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei mentioned that Sunday’s discussions would be limited to just one day.</ Since no guarantee for maintaining peace was provided by US regarding Lebanon issues discussed will only involve implementing what was agreed upon rather than diving into more complex issues expected later during negotiations.</
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Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei mentioned that Sunday’s discussions would be limited to just one day.</ Since no guarantee for maintaining peace was provided by US regarding Lebanon issues discussed will only involve implementing what was agreed upon rather than diving into more complex issues expected later during negotiations.</
