Vance Postpones Switzerland Trip As Uncertainty Clouds Next Phase Of US-Iran Talks
Vice President JD Vance postponed Switzerland talks with Iran, deepening uncertainty over the fragile ceasefire agreement and negotiations.
Vice President JD Vance postponed Switzerland talks with Iran, deepening uncertainty over the fragile ceasefire agreement and negotiations.
The White House announced on Thursday night that US Vice President JD Vance had postponed a planned trip to Switzerland, where he had been expected to lead a new round of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme, casting fresh uncertainty over efforts to sustain a fragile agreement aimed at ending the conflict.
A White House official said Vance’s team had been prepared to depart for Switzerland but delayed the trip because of “difficult logistics” surrounding the talks.
The development came shortly after Al-Mayadeen, a pan-Arab satellite television channel politically aligned with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, reported that Iran had also delayed sending its delegation to Switzerland amid Israel’s continuing military operations in Lebanon.
The postponement raises fresh questions over the future of the tentative agreement signed this week by Washington and Tehran, which extended the ceasefire by 60 days to allow further negotiations on broader issues.
Vance, who had initially expressed personal scepticism about the United States becoming directly involved in the conflict with Iran, has increasingly emerged as one of the administration’s most vocal defenders of the agreement.
Appearing at the White House earlier on Thursday, the vice president defended the initial deal, arguing that while it offered concessions to Tehran, Iran would first have to comply with American demands.
“As they dial up their good behaviour, we can dial up the economic relief,” Vance said. “If they dial down their good behaviour, we can turn it off.”
However, he acknowledged uncertainty over the timing of the next round of negotiations.
He said he was “not sure” when he would travel to Switzerland and admitted that the talks might not begin this week. The formal postponement has now made the timeline even less certain.
The decision for Vance to remain in Washington came after the United States announced that it had lifted its blockade, allowing oil tankers to resume moving freely through the Strait of Hormuz after months of disruption.
Despite the agreement, criticism has emerged in the United States, including from some Republican lawmakers, who argue that Washington had conceded too much by offering sanctions relief and supporting the creation of a potential $300 billion reconstruction fund.
Meanwhile, a senior Trump administration envoy told lawmakers during a private briefing that Iran would invite the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog to inspect its nuclear facilities.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, also appeared to signal support for direct negotiations.
“It is obvious that the face-to-face negotiations that will be held in the future will not mean accepting the enemy’s opinion,” Khamenei said in a statement carried by state media.
The remarks marked Khamenei’s first public response to the agreement and were widely interpreted as a significant shift in Iran’s approach. Hard-line factions, particularly under his father, the previous supreme leader, had long opposed direct talks with Washington following the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers.
The supreme leader has not appeared in public since reportedly being wounded in a strike at the beginning of the conflict.
Under the agreement, Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium must, at a minimum, be diluted under international supervision. The accord also stipulates that Iran shall neither procure nor develop nuclear weapons, a commitment Tehran has made previously.
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff told members of Congress that Iran would invite the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect its nuclear sites and begin identifying the locations of Tehran’s enriched nuclear material, believed to be buried beneath rubble.
According to two people familiar with the closed-door briefing who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, Witkoff said the agreement contained no secret side deals.
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said the accord required Iran to “commit to renounce their nuclear ambitions in writing”.
She added that Tehran had drafted a separate letter with the IAEA extending the invitation for inspections.
According to the briefing, the letter addressed to IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi would enable him to bring US nuclear inspectors into Tehran.
Before Vance postponed his visit, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had also delayed a planned trip to Switzerland, where Pakistani officials had intended to host a ceremonial signing of the agreement.
Two senior officials, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the visit was cancelled because the agreement had already been formally signed by both Iran and the United States.
President Donald Trump signed the initial accord on Wednesday while dining with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles.
The agreement took immediate effect, extending the ceasefire and giving both sides 60 days to negotiate wider arrangements on outstanding issues.
Responding to criticism over the rollout of the deal, Vance rejected suggestions that the administration had mishandled its messaging.
“I don’t think our public messaging has been chaotic,” he said.
The vice president also issued a pointed warning to Israel, which has pressed Washington to adopt a tougher position against Iran and continued strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon throughout the conflict, including shortly before the ceasefire extension was agreed.
“Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time,” Vance said. “And he happens to be the head of state of the world’s superpower.”
Trump said he approved the agreement to avert what he described as an impending “economic catastrophe” in the United States after the conflict drove up oil prices, unsettled financial markets and fuelled inflation.
The agreement has since contributed to falling petrol prices and rising stock markets, although analysts warn that renewed uncertainty over future US-Iran negotiations could once again affect global markets.
Vance said more than 12.5 million barrels of oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday night, adding that Washington’s decision to ease its blockade represented “honouring our end of the early part of the agreement on the military side”.
US Central Command said American warships “will remain in the general area to make sure that all aspects of the agreement are adhered to, obeyed and in full force and effect”.
