JD Vance reaches Switzerland for high-stakes US-Iran nuclear talks

JD Vance has reached Switzerland to open formal talks with Iranian leaders on the nuclear programme and a wider interim war deal. The 60-day push now faces pressure from Strait of Hormuz tensions and Israel-Hezbollah fighting.

In Short

• Washington and Tehran have 60 days to settle technical nuclear details
• Iran said it shut Hormuz, though US military disputed the claim
• The interim pact lets Tehran sell oil and access frozen assets

US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Switzerland on Sunday to formally launch talks with Iranian leaders on curbing Tehran's nuclear programme and expanding a fragile interim deal aimed at ending the war in Iran. The framework was signed last week, and top US and Iranian negotiators now have 60 days to agree on the technical details, with major implications for the world economy and global security.

The first days of that period have already been complicated by heavy exchanges of fire in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, and by Iran's announcement that it had closed the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which a fifth of the world's traded oil and natural gas passes. US Central Command disputed Iran's claim and said US forces were continuing to monitor the situation to ensure traffic keeps moving through the strait.

Vance had originally been due to arrive at the Brgenstock resort near Lucerne on Friday, but his departure from the United States was delayed after fighting escalated in Lebanon and Iranian officials cancelled plans to attend the talks. He left the US shortly after Iranian state television said Tehran's negotiators had reached Switzerland. Iran's team includes parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, along with central bank and oil officials.

Vance joins special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, who were already in Switzerland to begin work on the technical details of the nuclear talks. The talks will also include Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, along with Qatari mediators. Vance said he planned to stay in Switzerland for just "a day or two", leaving much of the detailed negotiations to Witkoff and Kushner.

His role in the talks has drawn greater attention at a time when he is actively considering a 2028 presidential campaign. Trump and Vance have faced sharp criticism from parts of their own party over the deal, with Republican hardliners comparing it unfavourably to the nuclear agreement signed under the Obama administration, which Trump and the Republican Party have long said did not end Iran's nuclear programme.

The agreement signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian immediately allows Tehran to sell its oil freely and opens the way for Iran to access billions of dollars in frozen assets. It also calls on Iran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, believed to be under nuclear sites targeted in US strikes last summer. The agreement says commercial vessels can pass through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days without a charge, though it does not rule out future fees imposed by Iran. Trump said on Saturday that he would impose US tolls on the strait if there is no deal with Iran in 60 days, saying in a social media post that the money would pay for "services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East." Vance has said millions of barrels of oil have moved through the strait in recent days.

The wider regional conflict remains a major complication. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah are signatories to the US-Iran deal, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his forces will remain in southern Lebanon until any threat to Israel is removed, while Hezbollah has refused to stop its attacks unless Israel commits to leaving Lebanon. In the first days after the US-Iran agreement, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah killed 47 people in Lebanon and four Israeli soldiers, underlining the tensions surrounding the negotiations now under way in Switzerland.

With PTI Inputs

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