Iran negotiators head for Switzerland but Lebanon fighting continues
Talks appear to be going ahead in Switzerland even as Iran says that Israel's attacks on Lebanon were a breach of the terms of its agreement with the US.
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ZURICH: A high-level Iranian team landed in Switzerland on Saturday (June 21) for peace talks with the United States, Iranian state media reported, while US Vice President JD Vance also set off for meetings that Pakistan said will begin on Sunday.
The US and Iran had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire while negotiations take place, but Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday declared the Strait of Hormuz shut, as fighting continues in Lebanon.
US President Donald Trump, in a social media post on Saturday, wrote that no toll will be charged for passage through the Strait during or after the 60-day ceasefire - unless the United States imposes one should peace talks fail.
Trump left open the possibility of a Hormuz toll levied by the United States "for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East" if a peace deal is not completed.
NOT A CEASEFIRE "ON ALL FRONTS"
Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, accused the US on X of failing to implement the first clause of it's 14-point interim deal with Iran, which includes a ceasefire "on all fronts", including Lebanon.
He said that, as long as the agreement was only on paper, the flow of Middle East energy would remain halted.
The Lebanon truce appeared fragile as Israeli forces and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah attacked each other.
Israeli troops battled Hezbollah fighters while its warplanes conducted deadly strikes in Lebanon's south on Saturday, hours after the United States announced a renewed ceasefire in the fighting there.
Follow-up talks on the US-Iran deal had been planned in Switzerland on Friday, but were postponed as Israel launched a wave of deadly strikes in Lebanon after four of its soldiers were killed in combat.
On Friday afternoon, a US official announced a new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah brokered by US and Qatari mediators, with Israel's ambassador to Washington saying it would respect the truce if Hezbollah did.
On Saturday, an Israeli military official said it was conducting fresh attacks against the Iran-backed movement, which it accused of having "launched more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon" overnight.
Hezbollah said Israel had carried out "under the cover of the ceasefire ... an infiltration attempt towards the Ali Taher hills", a strategic feature overlooking the city of Nabatieh, adding its fighters "confronted them with appropriate weapons".
Lebanese state media reported Israeli air raids on around 20 locations, with the country's civil defence agency saying 16 people were killed in the Nabatieh area, where an AFP photographer saw smoke rising over the city after strikes.
Lebanon's health ministry reported seven more people killed and 13 wounded in a strike on a village near the city of Sidon.
Another AFP journalist on the Israeli side of the border saw smoke billowing behind the historic Beaufort Castle, a strategic position not far from Nabatieh that Israel captured last month.
"RIGHT TO CONFRONT"
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said Saturday that his group "has the full right to confront this enemy when it attacks us".
An Israeli military official cited by public broadcaster Kan similarly described his country's approach to the truce as being "on the basis of fire being answered with fire".
Israel's US ambassador, Yechiel Leiter, maintained it was Hezbollah that broke the truce, adding: "Israel is honouring the ceasefire while defending itself against terrorist attacks, as any self-respecting country would."
Fadi Zayat, who had fled the southern Lebanon town of Tayr Debba, told AFP that "fear dominates over everyone".
"We returned to the village a few days ago, but our bags are ready to flee again," the 53-year-old said. "We're waiting for a serious decision to end the war ... in order to return to our lives."
Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the wider Middle East conflict in early March when it fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.
A previous ceasefire meant to take effect in Lebanon in April was never honoured.
In a call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun stressed "the need for Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory to cease", his office said.
SWITZERLAND TALKS
Israel and Lebanon, which have no official diplomatic ties, have held multiple rounds of US-mediated direct talks in Washington.
The talks in Switzerland are meant to kick off a two-month period of negotiations to discuss outstanding issues not covered by the initial deal, notably Iran's nuclear programme.
Switzerland's foreign ministry said Saturday that envoys "from various countries currently present are continuing their efforts to maintain the dialogue", declining to offer further details.
Swiss public broadcaster RTS said technical delegations from the United States and Iran, plus Pakistan and fellow mediator Qatar, were present for the discussions.
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