Talks between the United States and Iran that had been scheduled to take place today, Friday, at the Burgenstock mountain resort in Switzerland will not go ahead, according to Reuters, citing a statement from the Swiss foreign ministry.
According to the report, the announcement came just hours after a White House spokesperson said that US Vice President J.D. Vance had withdrawn from the planned trip to Switzerland, where he was due to meet Iranian negotiators.
The purpose of the meeting had been to launch discussions on the implementation of an agreement reached between Washington and Tehran aimed at ending the war. There was no immediate response from Iran, which had earlier said it was ready to begin technical talks after Wednesday's 14-point accord extended a tenuous ceasefire by at least 60 days.
Iran's negotiators first needed to see signs of the U.S. implementing the interim deal, and there was no confirmation its delegation would travel to Switzerland, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said before Vance's Thursday announcement. U.S. officials had also said they would hold a formal signing ceremony for the U.S.-Iran agreement in Switzerland, but Iran's foreign ministry had cast doubt on the plan, calling it unnecessary after both countries' presidents signed the pact.
The memorandum of understanding signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian gives negotiators 60 days to agree on the status of Iran's nuclear programme, with the possibility of an extension. The deal also provides for the establishment of a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran and includes other financial incentives. Vice President JD Vance said Washington would also seek to constrain Iran's long-range missile capability during the talks.
Upcoming negotiations
The cost of the war is coming into sharper focus. The US defence department has told lawmakers it needs $80 billion to cover war expenses and some unrelated bills, according to the Wall Street Journal.
When the United States and Israel launched the war nearly four months ago, Trump said he aimed to dismantle Iran's nuclear capabilities entirely, end Tehran's ability to strike its neighbours, halt its support for allied militant groups in the region and create conditions for Iranians to overthrow their theocratic government. None of those objectives had been met when he signed the agreement.
Under the terms of the deal, Iran restated its long-standing position that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, a claim successive US presidents have doubted. Tehran also agreed to the on-site reduction of its highly enriched uranium stockpile and to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. It rejected Trump's demand that the material be removed from the country.
US officials say the upcoming negotiations could still produce a robust nuclear agreement, one they say could surpass the 2015 deal between Iran, the United States and other world powers that Trump tore up during his first term. Critics, including hawkish voices within his own party, say Iran emerges from the conflict in a stronger position than before it began, having withstood an attack by a superpower, demonstrated its ability to shut down the Strait of Hormuz and secured valuable exemptions from financial sanctions.
Iran has said it will retain joint control of the strait with Oman, its neighbour across the waterway, and intends to charge vessels service fees that did not exist before the war, though not during the 60-day negotiation period. Oil prices fell as the prospect of increased supply through the reopening strait brightened. Before the war, the waterway carried close to a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
In Lebanon, fresh Israeli strikes on Friday killed at least 15 people, according to the Lebanese state news agency NNA, in attacks Israel said were directed at Hezbollah targets. The deal signed by Trump explicitly calls for the permanent termination of the war in Lebanon and for the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty to be upheld. Israel has said it has no intention of withdrawing, and on Thursday released a new map depicting an expanded occupation zone in the south.
Trump has become openly critical of Israel's conduct in Lebanon, accusing it of unnecessarily destroying entire buildings in pursuit of Hezbollah fighters, in what observers describe as one of the most serious rifts between the two countries in decades.
Source: Reuters
