U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived Sunday at a Swiss mountain resort for peace talks with Iran, but the diplomacy was overshadowed by Tehran’s announcement that it had reimposed its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to end the war, reached last week, calls for reopening the strait and halting all hostilities, including in Lebanon, which Israel, a U.S. ally, invaded in March.
But with little sign of an end to the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, Iran said Saturday it had closed the strait again.
U.S. officials disputed the closure, saying 55 merchant ships crossed Saturday. However, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency cited a military source Sunday saying authorities had stopped issuing transit permits.
As is often the case during the war, the weekend announcement occurred while markets were closed, making it difficult to immediately assess the economic impact.
President Donald Trump said he approved last week’s MoU to avert a global depression threatened by high oil prices.
Oil prices have tumbled to prewar levels since the agreement was announced, but a renewed Iranian blockade could cause them to surge when markets reopen Monday.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Sunday’s talks in Buergenstock, which include mediators from Qatar and Pakistan, would last only one day.
Because Washington failed to guarantee a cease-fire in Lebanon, the talks will only cover implementing the memorandum, not the substantive issues planned for the next stage, Baghaei said.
The memorandum outlines 60 days of talks on curbing Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting international sanctions. Iran is already expected to receive initial benefits, including sanctions waivers and unfrozen assets.
Vance leads the U.S. delegation, negotiating with Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. It is their first meeting since their only other face-to-face talks more than two months ago.
”I think we’re going to hopefully make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon cease-fire issue,” Vance told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before departing, adding that a “couple of days of talks” were likely.
On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard accused Israel of cease-fire violations in Lebanon and warned that ships approaching the Strait would be at risk. The waterway carried one-fifth of global oil supplies before the U.S. and Israel struck Iran on Feb. 28.
Cease-fires have been repeatedly announced in Lebanon, most recently Friday, but they have had little impact on fighting that has displaced more than 1 million people.
Israeli strikes killed at least seven people, including a child, across southern Lebanon Sunday, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.
Reuters journalists in southern Lebanon earlier Saturday saw rescuers carrying the wounded from the ruins of Israeli airstrikes.
Residents said the destruction of entire blocks resembled the Gaza Strip. Lebanese authorities said the attacks killed 20 people Saturday.
The Lebanese army said Sunday that specialized units were working to dismantle unexploded 450- and 900-kilogram Israeli bombs dropped on southern towns. Although some roads have reopened, the military urged residents to delay returning to border villages.
The memorandum to end the war, which Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched in February, is deeply unpopular in Israel, which did not participate in the peace talks.
Netanyahu’s government said it will not withdraw from a swath of southern Lebanon seized after Hezbollah fighters fired across the border in solidarity with Tehran.
Iranian media reported that the country’s delegation includes Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi along with senior security, central bank and oil officials. Joining Vance on the U.S. team are envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir arrived Sunday to join the talks, as helicopters hovered overhead.
In a Fox News interview before leaving the U.S., Vance said he was confident the cease-fire would hold and that he had seen no evidence the Strait of Hormuz was closed.
When Trump and Netanyahu launched the war in February, they said their goals were to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, stop its missile and proxy threats, and help Iranians overthrow their government.
None of those goals has been met, though U.S. officials say they have severely damaged Iran’s military and still expect a deal to block Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
A Hebrew University poll provided to Reuters showed that 92% of Israelis believe Iran benefited more than Israel from the joint military campaign, while only 8% see Israel as victorious.
Almost 90% of Israelis said the war’s goals have not been met, and fewer than 30% believe Netanyahu’s claims of major achievements.
