OBBUERGEN (Switzerland), June 22: Vice President JD Vance on Monday said his lengthy talks with senior Iranian officials in Switzerland created a “good foundation for a successful final deal” as they negotiate bringing a permanent end to the war that the US and Israel began in late February.
“The final deal is the house,” Vance told reporters after initial talks with Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. “We set the foundation. We haven’t built the house, but we’ve laid a successful foundation to get to a good place for the American people.”
Iran noted “major progress” to end the fighting in Lebanon and called that the first real test of the negotiations.
The mediation effort in Switzerland, which started Sunday and stretched into early Monday, had rocky moments.
In other developments, the US Treasury issued a 60-day license waiving sanctions on Iranian oil as part of the interim agreement to end the war. The license authorizes the production, delivery and sale of Iranian oil. It will last through August 21.
Trump loomed large over talks
Trump did not attend what was dubbed the “Lake Lucerne Summit,” but his presence certainly loomed large.
The talks were jolted by statements from Trump, who, from thousands of miles away, fired off comments that offended the Iranians.
Iranian state media said talks had paused after the “publication of an insulting message by the US President.” The negotiations later continued.
Vance pushed back against the notion that Trump’s threats complicated the talks.
Vance floats unfreezing Iranian assets to purchase US goods
The vice president suggested that the US could agree to unfreeze Iranian assets for purchases of US soy, corn and wheat. He said Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump and one of the lead US negotiators, came up with the idea with officials from Qatar.
Vance said Qatar would have approval over the process, and Iranian money that would be accessible as sanctions were lifted “would actually go to buy American soy, American corn and American wheat for the benefit of the Iranian people.”
Iran, which has pressed for the unfreezing of billions of dollars in assets, has not spoken to the idea of using the funds to purchase American products.
The assets have been made inaccessible over years of sanctions, banking restrictions and legal disputes imposed by the US and international community on the Islamic Republic.
High-level talks end but technical talks continue
A team led by Vance is to meet with Iranian negotiators led by Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for talks on Tehran’s nuclear program as part of a fragile deal to end the Iran war.
In a joint statement, mediators Pakistan and Qatar said that while the high-level engagement had ended, technical negotiations would continue in Switzerland.
The mediators hailed “encouraging progress.”
The interim deal to end the fighting in Iran, signed last week by the leaders of the US and Iran, sets a 60-day period for negotiators on issues including the future of Tehran’s nuclear program amid concerns that it wants to use it for military purposes, a claim Iran denies.
Vance and US officials claimed progress on multiple fronts, including the establishment of “mechanisms” to ensure the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global energy shipments, remains open and that a ceasefire in the fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon holds.
Vance warns about ‘trash talk’
Trump, over the weekend, made clear he was annoyed by Iran’s public commentary on the strait, which Iran’s military said it closed Saturday in response to continued fighting in Lebanon. US Central Command has disputed that Iran closed the strait again.
Ahead of the talks, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had vowed to “never back down from the right to enrich uranium,” according to state media.
Trump on Sunday told Fox News in a phone interview that Pezeshkian should watch what he says and threatened to take over Iran, according to one of the news channel’s correspondents.
Trump also posted on social media as negotiators worked: “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!”
Vance said the Iranians should have expected such a reaction from Trump.
“What we told the Iranians yesterday is when you guys engage in what us millennials might call trash talk, you can’t expect the President of the United States not to respond and not to correct the record,” Vance said.
Progress top issue: Iran
Araghchi wrote on X that mediators delivered “major progress to end the Lebanon War.”
But he said the first “real test” of negotiations would be whether the mechanism succeeds in halting the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Iran has insisted on first addressing the fighting in Lebanon. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah is a signatory to the US-Iran deal.
A renewed ceasefire in Lebanon appeared to be holding, and Israel’s military said it would lift movement restrictions for residents near the Israel-Lebanon border on Monday. (AP)
