Vance arrives in Switzerland for Iran peace talks with Hormuz in spotlight

BERN: US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Switzerland on Sunday for talks with Iran aimed at turning a ceasefire into a more durable settlement, as disagreement over the Strait of Hormuz and renewed violence in Lebanon threatened to complicate the negotiations.

The discussions are meant to build on a 60-day ceasefire that the United States and Iran agreed to while negotiations continue. The process follows an interim agreement brokered by Pakistan and signed on Wednesday by US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to end a war that had lasted nearly four months.

Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced on Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz had been shut. The United States military, however, said commercial shipping was still moving through the waterway. US Central Command said 55 merchant ships crossed the strait on Saturday carrying more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets, and said US forces would ensure commercial traffic continued.

Trump said no toll would be charged for transit through the strait during or after the 60-day ceasefire, unless the United States decided to impose one if the talks collapsed. In a social media post, he referred to the possibility of a levy by the United States, "for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East."

Iran cites ceasefire obligations

The Revolutionary Guards linked their position on the waterway to what they described as Israeli actions in Lebanon that violated US commitments tied to the ceasefire. They warned that ships approaching the strait would be at risk.

Mohammad Mokhber, identified as an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said on X that Washington had failed to carry out the first clause of a 14-point interim accord with Iran, including a ceasefire across all fronts, among them Lebanon. He said Middle East energy flows would remain halted as long as the agreement remained only on paper.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran would press in Switzerland for implementation of commitments, while also referring to what he said were earlier failures by the other side to honour agreements.

Delegations and Pakistan’s role

The Iranian side is being led by chief negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and includes Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi along with senior officials from security, central bank and oil institutions, Iranian media said. On the US side, Vance is accompanied by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir will attend this weekend’s sessions.

Before departing the United States, Vance said in an interview with Fox News that he believed the ceasefire would hold and that he had seen no evidence the Strait of Hormuz was closed. Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, he said the negotiators would probably hold a couple of days of talks. "I think we're going to hopefully make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue," he said.

A vice presidential spokesperson said Vance and second lady Usha Vance arrived at Emmen Air Base at 5:59am local time, or 0359 GMT.

Lebanon fighting remains a major flashpoint

A cessation of fighting in Lebanon was one of the conditions for launching US-Iran talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme and other issues. But the truce there appeared fragile. Lebanese Civil Defence said 20 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Saturday, hours after a ceasefire took effect.

Israel said it was responding to Hezbollah attacks, while the Iran-backed group said it would not allow Israel freedom of movement in Lebanon. Israel has said it is not a party to the Iran-US deal and will keep its forces in the Lebanese territory it occupies. In a military statement, it remained committed to the ceasefire but would continue acting against any threat to Israel or its forces.

Channel 12 reported that Israel’s prime minister and defence minister had instructed the military to stop firing in Lebanon, but not to withdraw from captured areas. Lebanon’s state news agency NNA said Israeli warplanes and drones struck areas across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley on Saturday. An Israeli military official said Hezbollah fired more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon overnight, and that Israel then struck what it described as Hezbollah targets.

Lebanon’s health ministry says 4,057 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since March 2, including medics, women and children, though it does not specify how many were combatants. Israeli authorities say at least 32 soldiers and four civilians have been killed in the fighting with Hezbollah.

A poll by Israel’s Hebrew University, shared with Reuters, found that around 92% of Israelis believe Iran benefited more from the joint Israeli-US military campaign than Israel, while about 8% think Israel emerged victorious. Nearly 90% believed the war’s goals were not met, and more than 70% did not accept Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims of major achievements.