Switzerland announced on Friday that planned talks following a deal to end the war in the Middle East had been postponed, hours after US Vice President JD Vance’s departure to the Alpine country was cancelled.
The signing of the deal this week was intended to end the conflict in Iran, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin a 60-day period for talks on broader issues, including Tehran’s nuclear program.
At the same time, the agreement was to stop fighting in Lebanon, but the Israeli army announced on Friday new attacks against Hezbollah targets in the south of the country.
“The planned talks between the US, Iran, Qatar and Pakistan have been postponed,” the Swiss foreign ministry said in a message to. AFP.
“Switzerland remains ready to facilitate these talks. The relevant preparatory work in Burgenstock is continuing,” he added, without giving a new date for the talks.
It followed the announcement late Thursday by the White House that Vance’s trip had been canceled, with a spokesman saying “the logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable.”
“We expect to start technical talks as soon as possible.”
In Iran, the Tasnim news agency said “nothing has been confirmed” about the Iranian delegation’s trip to Switzerland.
The agreement was signed separately by US President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that he had approved the deal despite reservations, even as the United States lifted its blockade of Iranian ports.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who took office after his father and longtime ruler Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war on February 28, said in a written statement that he had a “different view” on the deal, without elaborating.
“But I gave my permission because of the commitment” made by officials, including Pezeshkian, to “protect the rights of the Iranian nation.”
“Face-to-face negotiations” with the United States will take place in the future, but this does not mean “accepting the enemy’s point of view,” he added.
On Friday, Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned that Tehran would give a “decisive” response if the deal is violated.
“Maybe they start fighting again”
US forces on Thursday lifted their naval blockade of Iranian ports that had prevented ships from sailing to or from the Islamic Republic, the US military said, noting that US warships “will remain in the general area”.
Activity was still muted in the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic barrier to energy shipments that Iran blocked during the conflict.
Three Saudi oil tankers left the Gulf through the strait on Thursday, maritime trackers said, as did a French ship loaded with liquefied natural gas.
Iranian state television, citing a statement from the country’s Supreme National Security Council, said ships “seeking to pass through the Strait of Hormuz must submit their request” to a new government body tasked with overseeing the waterway.
As per the terms of the agreement, he added, “no fee will be collected from the applicants for a period of 60 days”.
The agreement aims to end the US-Israel conflict with Iran, which saw five weeks of all-out war until a ceasefire was reached in early April.
But the fighting has not stopped in Lebanon, with Tehran-backed Hezbollah saying on Friday that its fighters destroyed three Israeli tanks in the country’s south and that fighting was “ongoing”. The Israeli military said on Friday it was striking Hezbollah targets in several areas of southern Lebanon.
‘What does that bring us?’
According to the text, Washington commits to immediately lift oil sanctions that are hurting Iran’s economy.
And once a final deal is reached on Iran’s nuclear program, the United States will facilitate the release of a $300 billion reconstruction fund supported by countries in the region, the agreement says.
Trump’s decision to end the war, which has killed 13 US service members and used up a large portion of the US ammunition stockpile, has worried some of his allies at home.
US Senator Bill Cassidy of Trump’s Republican Party described it as “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades”.
But Trump argued that using military force to extract more concessions from Tehran would have been counterproductive.
“The only way I can get tougher is if I go there for another two or three weeks and keep bombing the hell out of them. Yeah? But what does that do for us? The Strait of Hormuz won’t be open,” he said. Axios.
“We wouldn’t have oil for months,” he said. “This is the kind of thing that could cause a worldwide depression.”
(sma)
