Both nations seek a durable end to their war as Iran slams Israeli attacks on Lebanon as violations of interim deal.
United States Vice President JD Vance has arrived in Switzerland for talks with Iranian officials on implementing the interim deal to end the US war with Iran.
The US and Iran earlier this week agreed to a 60-day ceasefire extension for the negotiations, but Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon – although the US military said commercial vessels kept operating.
The talks, with the presence of mediators, were expected to start in the Swiss mountain resort of Buergenstock “during the course of the morning”, Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Sunday.
The delegations are being led by Vance and Iranian chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
“I think we’re going to hopefully make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue,” with a “couple days of talks” likely, Vance told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before departing for Switzerland.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said a quadrilateral meeting between Iran, the US, Qatar and Pakistan will be held at the resort in the afternoon after meetings with mediators Qatar and Pakistan earlier in the day.
He also said in a video shared by the IRNA state news agency that the ongoing conflict in Lebanon will top the agenda at the talks, as well as issues such as frozen Iranian funds and sales of the country’s oil.
US Vice President JD Vance, left, reacts next to US President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff, second right, and Jared Kushner, right, while waiting to meet with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the Buergenstock Resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, in Switzerland, Sunday, June 21, 2026 [Nathan Howard/Pool via AP]
Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Buergenstock, Switzerland, said the sides would try to bridge the gap between their positions during the talks.
“And that is why you’re seeing the highest level of participation,” he said.
“The US immediately wants to go into the nuclear issue. The Iranians want an end to the fighting in Lebanon,” our correspondent said.
A halt to fighting in Lebanon was one of the conditions agreed this week in the interim deal to extend the US-Iran ceasefire for 60 days and start talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme and other issues.
But the deal is already coming under strain, as Israel continued attacks in Lebanon on Saturday, killing dozens of people, with Iran’s IRGC citing the strikes as it declared the Strait of Hormuz shut. The US military said commercial vessels had continued operating in the waterway.
Pointing to what it called Israeli “crimes” in Lebanon that violated US commitments to a ceasefire, the IRGC warned ships would be at risk if they approached the strait, a vital conduit for global oil and gas supplies.
But US Central Command (CENTCOM) said 55 merchant ships transited the strait on Saturday, with more than 17 million barrels of oil bound for global markets. US forces will ensure commercial traffic continues, CENTCOM said.
Trump said no toll would be charged for passage through the strait during or after the 60-day ceasefire – unless the US imposes one should peace talks fail.
In a social media post, he cited the possibility of a toll levied by the US “for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East” if a deal to end the war is not completed.
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