United States Vice President JD Vance says Washington wants to “turn over a new leaf” in the Middle East as talks on the interim deal to end the war with Iran are under way in Switzerland.
His comments came even as US President Donald Trump again threatened fresh strikes on Iran, prompting a rebuke from Iran’s top negotiator.
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The US and Iran agreed to a 60-day ceasefire extension for the negotiations earlier this week, but Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced another closure of the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon, although the US military said commercial vessels kept operating.
The talks, with the presence of mediators, started Sunday at the Swiss mountain resort of Burgenstock and are being led by Vance and Iranian chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Inside the meeting room, Vance addressed reporters alongside Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.
The vice president first called Iran a “driver of regional instability” before saying “great progress” had been made.
“The opening of the Strait of Hormuz, the ending of the Iranian nuclear programme – all of these things have been accomplished,” Vance said. “The question before us is now how much more can we accomplish together.”
“Can we turn over a new leaf? Can we change relations in the Middle East?”
Sharif struck a more cautious tone, saying he hoped discussions would end with a “wonderful paper in our hands that will promote peace, progress and prosperity around the globe”.
The Iranian delegation did not speak during the opening remarks, nor appear in photos or footage alongside Vance, indicating “how tense things are”, Al Jazeera’s James Bays reported from Burgenstock.
A first-round quadrilateral meeting between Iran, the US, Qatar and Pakistan ended after 80 minutes around 15:00 GMT for “internal consultations”, according to Iran’s Fars news agency. Talks were expected to continue throughout the afternoon.
Meanwhile on Truth Social, Trump threatened Iran over Hezbollah.
“Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble,” he posted. “If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder”.
Iran’s parliament speaker and head negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf responded on X that “we don’t count on the American threats”.
“Don’t they think to themselves that if their threats had any effect, they wouldn’t have reached the point of desperation they are in today?” he said.
Tension over Lebanon
The talks unfolded as ongoing hostilities in Lebanon have put the deal under strain.
Israel continued attacks throughout Saturday, killing dozens of people, with Iran’s IRGC citing the strikes as it declared the Strait of Hormuz shut.
Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, accused the US on X of failing to implement the first clause of its 14-point interim deal with Iran, which stipulates a ceasefire “on all fronts”, including Lebanon.
He said that if the deal were not implemented, the flow of energy through the region would remain halted.
The US military said commercial vessels had continued operating in the waterway, with 55 merchant ships transiting the strait on Saturday laden with more than 17 million barrels of oil.
Although Trump said no toll would be charged for passage through the strait during or after the 60-day ceasefire, Tehran will seek to change some of the rules regulating the Strait of Hormuz “within the framework of legal and international mechanisms”, an adviser and assistant to the supreme leader has told Fars news agency.
Despite the rising tensions, “the US and Iranian goals are somewhat on the same page” over Lebanon, reported Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane from Washington, DC.
Trump has held “very feisty calls” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent days, while Vance has also warned Israel shouldn’t upset “their only friend left in the world”, she said.
“So Israel is in the position where it will have to decide: does it want to anger the US side or does it want to stop hostilities?”
Israel’s Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said the ceasefire was “fragile” during a visit to southern Lebanon Sunday.
“We are continuing to fight,” Zamir said, adding that troops “need to be prepared with high readiness to renew combat activity”.
The Iran-aligned Hezbollah group also announced attacks on Israeli forces. The group meanwhile condemned upcoming talks between Lebanon and the US in Washington, saying Beirut would be forced to “confiscate Lebanon’s sovereignty”.
At least Israeli six soldiers have been killed, and 20 others wounded, over the past few days in Hezbollah attacks.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed 4,106 people and wounded 12,153 others since March 2, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said in its latest toll Sunday.
