Switzerland says US-Iran talks planned for Friday are off
The announcement came after a White House spokesperson said that Vice President JD Vance had pulled out of a planned trip to meet Iranian negotiators to begin talks on implementing their ceasefire agreement.
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WASHINGTON: Talks that had been planned for Friday between the United States and Iran at the Burgenstock mountaintop resort in Switzerland will not take place, according to a Swiss foreign ministry statement.
The announcement came after a White House spokesperson said overnight that US Vice President JD Vance had pulled out of a planned trip to meet Iranian negotiators in Switzerland on Friday (Jun 19) to begin talks on implementing an agreement struck between Tehran and Washington to end their war.
The signing of the accord this week was intended to end the conflict in Iran, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin a 60-day period for talks on wider issues, including Tehran's nuclear programme.
At the same time, the deal was to end the fighting in Lebanon, but new clashes have flared between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.
It has also appeared increasingly unlikely that a signing ceremony between the United States and Iran, originally slated for Switzerland on Friday, will take place as planned.
"The logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable. As of now the Vice President is not departing tonight," a White House spokesperson said of Vance late Thursday.
"We look forward to beginning technical talks as soon as possible."
The agreement has been 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 agreement, despite reservations, even as the United States lifted a blockade of Iranian ports.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who took over after his father and longstanding ruler Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war on Feb 28, said in a written statement that he held a "different view" on the deal, without elaborating.
"But I issued my permission due to the commitment" made by officials including Pezeshkian to "protect the rights of the Iranian nation".
"Face-to-face negotiations" with the United States will be held in the future, but that 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 agreement was breached.
HORMUZ NAVAL BLOCKADE LIFTED
American 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 American warships "will remain in the general area".
Activity was still muted in the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic bottleneck for energy shipments that Iran blockaded during the conflict.
Three Saudi oil tankers left the Gulf through the strait on Thursday, maritime trackers said, as did a French vessel loaded with liquefied natural gas.
Iranian state TV, citing a statement from the country's Supreme National Security Council, said that ships "seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz must submit their request" to a new government body tasked with overseeing the waterway.
In keeping with the terms of the deal, it added, "no fees whatsoever will be collected from applicants for a period of sixty days".
ISRAEL CONTINUES FIGHT
The deal should bring an end to the current US-Israeli conflict with Iran, which saw five weeks of all-out war until a ceasefire was struck in early April.
But fighting has continued in Lebanon, with Tehran-backed Hezbollah saying on Friday that its fighters destroyed three Israeli tanks in the country's south and that clashes were "ongoing".
Israel has yet to confirm if its tanks were hit.
Three people were also killed in Lebanon by Israeli drone strikes, the country's official National News Agency reported on Thursday.
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March by attacking Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader at the start of the US-Israeli campaign.
Some in Tehran were downbeat at the prospects for peace.
"I have no hope that this is a lasting agreement. Maybe after the 60 days they start fighting again," said Mina, 54, a psychologist from Tehran.
Her sentiment was shared by French President Emmanuel Macron, who presided over the signing at the Palace of Versailles in what he described as a "spontaneous" move by Trump.
Macron said he did not believe that the war was "totally finished".
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March by attacking Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader at the start of the US-Israeli campaign.
Israel, which was not included in the peace talks and has distanced itself from the US-Iran accord, continued its fighting against the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, also raising questions about whether the agreement would hold.
In Washington, some of US President Donald Trump's Republican allies in Congress questioned whether he had given up too much in order to end the conflict, which is unpopular with most Americans.
Trump previously wrote he would only end the war with Iran's "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER", but the memorandum he signed with Iran instead provides relief from economic sanctions, unfreezes assets worth tens of billions of dollars and immediately provides US waivers for Iran to export its oil.
When the US and Israel launched the war nearly four months ago, Trump said he aimed to destroy Iran's nuclear programme to ensure it could never develop nuclear weapons, end Tehran's ability to strike its neighbours, prevent it from supporting allied anti-Israel militants in the region and make it possible for Iranians to topple their theocratic government.
Trump signed the deal with none of those objectives met. In the agreement, Iran restated its decades-long position that it will not get or develop nuclear weapons, a position doubted by a succession of US presidents.
It also agreed to the on-site "down blending" of its highly enriched uranium stockpile and inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a Non-Proliferation Treaty member, rejecting Trump's wish to remove the material from the country.
US officials say the negotiations could still yield a strong agreement on Iran's nuclear programme, aiming to exceed one from 2015 between Iran and the US and other countries that Trump tore up in his first term.
But critics say Iran is in a stronger position now, having withstood a superpower attack, exerted control of the Strait of Hormuz and gained valuable waivers to financial sanctions.
Iran has said it will still exert control over Hormuz in partnership with its neighbour Oman across the strait and intends to charge ships fees for services that did not exist before the war.
In Lebanon, where more than a million people have been displaced by the fighting, Israeli forces launched fresh airstrikes early on Thursday, raising doubt about how far Trump will go to force his wartime allies to halt an offensive he has now pledged to end.
Trump said he expects a complete ceasefire on all fronts.
The deal calls for the "permanent termination" of the war in Lebanon and for the country's "territorial integrity and sovereignty" to be ensured.
Israel has said it has no intention of withdrawing from Lebanon and released a new map showing an expanded occupation zone.
Trump has become openly critical of Israel's operations in Lebanon, leading to one of the biggest rifts between the two countries in decades.
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