Vice President JD Vance urged Iran to “turn over a new leaf” during negotiations in Switzerland, but President Donald Trump’s warnings over Hezbollah and the Strait of Hormuz quickly tested the fragile interim deal.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
U.S.-Iran negotiations in Switzerland entered a tense new phase Sunday as Vice President JD Vance pressed Tehran to build on last week’s interim war-ending agreement while President Donald Trump warned Iran that renewed support for Hezbollah or interference in the Strait of Hormuz could trigger further U.S. strikes.
Vance met with senior Iranian officials at the Bürgenstock resort near Lake Lucerne as American and Iranian negotiators began work on the technical details of a 60-day framework agreement that carries major implications for Iran’s nuclear program, regional security and global energy markets.
The U.S. delegation included Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. Iran was represented by parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Mediators from Pakistan and Qatar also attended.
The direct engagement lasted about 80 minutes, according to Iranian state media. U.S. and Iranian teams also held separate private discussions with Pakistani and Qatari officials.
“The question before us now is how much more can we accomplish together? Can we turn over a new leaf?” Vance said as the talks, dubbed the “Lake Lucerne Summit,” began.
“Can we change relations in the Middle East permanently, or do we go back to doing things the old way, which is not our preference, but is certainly very much something that can happen,” he said.
The negotiations are intended to convert last week’s interim agreement into a more durable deal. The framework signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian allows Tehran to sell oil freely, creates a path for Iran to access billions of dollars in frozen assets and calls for Iran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, believed to be buried beneath nuclear sites struck by the United States last summer.
The central U.S. objective is to bind Iran to negotiations over its nuclear program amid concerns it could be used for military purposes. Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon.
Pezeshkian repeated Sunday that Iran will not surrender its claimed enrichment rights.
“What is certain is that we will never back down from the right to enrich uranium, and the other side is also forced to accept it,” Pezeshkian said, according to Iranian state media.
The talks were already strained by renewed fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah is a party to the U.S.-Iran agreement, but the fighting has become one of the agreement’s first major tests.
Trump warned Iran on social media Sunday to rein in Hezbollah.
“Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble,” Trump said. “If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!”
Trump, who spent much of the weekend at Camp David, also warned in a telephone interview with Fox News that Pezeshkian should watch what he says and threatened to take over the rest of Iran, according to comments relayed by a Fox correspondent.
Qalibaf responded sharply on X.
“They would do better to be careful about their statements,” Qalibaf wrote. “Our armed forces are prepared to respond to them in a different manner. They may keep talking, it is we who act.”
Iranian state media said the talks entered a “difficult phase” and recessed after the “publication of an insulting message by the U.S. President.” The Iranian delegation then met with Qatari mediators and left the negotiating site, state media said.
Despite those reports, an official with knowledge of the talks later told The Associated Press that the Iranian delegation remained engaged and had not told mediators it intended to leave. The official spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told Iranian state media that Tehran’s team was focused heavily on the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“The implementation of any document is more important than its signing,” Baghaei said Sunday.
The Switzerland meeting had originally been scheduled for Friday, but Vance’s trip was delayed after fighting escalated in Lebanon and Iranian officials canceled plans to attend. A renewed ceasefire in Lebanon brokered Saturday appeared to be holding, but the situation remains volatile.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israeli forces will remain in southern Lebanon until threats to Israel are eliminated. Hezbollah has said it will not stop attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawing from Lebanon.
The Strait of Hormuz is another major point of contention. The interim agreement allows commercial vessels to pass through the waterway for 60 days without charge, but it does not prevent Iran from imposing future fees.
Iran’s military announced after the agreement was signed that it had again closed the strait, a vital route through which about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil passes. U.S. Central Command disputed that claim and said American forces were monitoring the waterway to ensure traffic continued to flow. Vance has said millions of barrels of oil have moved through the strait in recent days.
Trump on Saturday also threatened to impose U.S. tolls on the strait if no final deal is reached within 60 days, saying the money would be for “services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East.”
The Trump administration has been trying to reassure global energy markets that the Iran war caused only a temporary disruption in oil prices. After the White House announced the interim agreement last week, oil futures fell nearly 8%. Markets are expected to closely track the Switzerland talks when trading resumes Sunday evening.
The deal has drawn criticism from Republican hard-liners, who have compared it unfavorably to the Obama-era nuclear agreement with Iran. Trump and many Republicans long argued that the prior deal failed to end Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Vance has said he planned to remain in Switzerland for only “a day or two,” with Witkoff and Kushner expected to handle much of the detailed technical negotiation. His role in the talks has nevertheless increased scrutiny of the vice president as he considers a potential 2028 presidential campaign.
The Switzerland negotiations now face several simultaneous challenges: Iran’s insistence on enrichment rights, U.S. demands for nuclear concessions, disputes over Lebanon, uncertainty over the Strait of Hormuz and Trump’s warnings that military action could resume.
The next phase of talks will determine whether the interim framework can survive its first major test or whether the U.S. and Iran return to confrontation before the 60-day window expires.
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