Vice President JD Vance had been scheduled to attend the negotiation at the Bürgenstock Resort on the shores of Lake Lucerne. Swiss officials said ‘preparatory work’ is underway despite the new delay
The United States and Iran have postponed the start of talks in Switzerland aimed at bringing a definitive end to the war, and which were scheduled to take place this Friday at the Bürgenstock Resort on the shores of Lake Lucerne, Swiss authorities said. However, officials noted in a news release that “the relevant preparatory work at Bürgenstock is continuing.”
The announcement comes after days of tension over Israel’s refusal to halt the bombings and end its occupation of southern Lebanon, where the agreement applies. Medical officials reported that 18 people have been killed since early Friday morning in a new offensive around the southern city of Nabatiye, despite the deal and a nominal ceasefire in effect. It was one of the most intense attacks in weeks, said the Lebanese state news agency.
The Israeli military has also announced the deaths of four members of its own military forces, including an officer, in an attack on one of its tanks in southern Lebanon. This is the largest reported loss of military personnel since the current hostilities began, with the death toll now exceeding 30, primarily due to drone attacks by Hezbollah.
A White House spokesperson had already announced last night that U.S. Vice President JD Vance had canceled his planned trip to Switzerland to meet with Iranian negotiators in order to begin talks on the implementation of a memorandum of understanding reached between Tehran and Washington to end the war. U.S. President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkián, signed the document on Wednesday during a virtual ceremony.
The Israeli Defense Forces struck “Hezbollah terrorists and infrastructure facilities in various areas of southern Lebanon” overnight, in response to “repeated ceasefire violations by the Iran-backed group,” according to a statement.
The reality is that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is reluctant to withdraw and halt the fighting in Lebanon, as it considers the agreement to be of no concern to it, as Israel has not signed it. Hezbollah has been stating for days that it will comply with the agreement if the Israeli side does so as well.
A day earlier, as JD Vance criticized Israeli ministers opposed to the agreement with Iran and urged Netanyahu not to “go crazy” in Lebanon, the Israeli military released a map showing the expanded area it controls militarily in the south.
The meeting scheduled to take place in Switzerland would mark the start of the second phase of negotiations, which is intended to define the terms of the final agreement—particularly with regard to Iran’s nuclear program—and is expected to last, in principle, 60 days.
The memorandum of understanding stipulates that Iran commits to at least diluting, under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the most highly enriched uranium in its possession.
But virtually everything else remains to be defined, including whether all radioactive material would remain in Tehran’s hands or whether it would have to hand over some of it, as was the case with the agreement signed by Barack Obama.
The gradual lifting of sanctions—to which the Trump administration has committed—also remains to be finalized, as does the $300 billion investment fund intended to drive reconstruction.
Another key issue will be the agreement on the status of the Strait of Hormuz. The interim agreement stipulates that traffic will be free—with no tolls—for “only” 60 days, and it therefore remains to be decided what will happen afterward, with Iran determined to assert its control.
This is a diplomatic endeavor of immense difficulty. The agreement signed a decade ago by Obama took two years of negotiations, but the preliminary discussions leading up to it lasted a decade.
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