SWISS REPRESENTS US INTERESTS IN IRAN

Switzerland has played a key role in diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States for decades.

Renowned for its neutrality, Switzerland has been representing US interests in Iran since Washington broke off relations with Tehran after the 1980 hostage crisis, a year after the Iranian revolution.

In its role as the so-called protecting power, Switzerland has for decades allowed the two feuding nations to maintain a minimum of diplomatic and consular relations.

The Swiss embassy in Tehran handles all consular affairs between the United States and Iran, including passport requests, altering civil status and consular protection for US citizens in Iran.

Under the protecting power mandate, “Switzerland can either offer to act as a go-between on its own initiative or can fulfil this function at the request of the parties concerned, provided that all those involved agree,” the foreign ministry says on its website.

TEHRAN WILL NOT AGREE TO NO ENRICHMENT

The Trump administration has maintained that Iran can have no uranium enrichment under any deal. Tehran says it won’t agree to that.

Iran has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. However, its officials increasingly threatened to pursue a nuclear weapon. Before the June war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60 per cent purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his nation is “ready for any kind of verification.” However, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has been unable for months to inspect and verify Iran’s nuclear stockpile.

Trump has suggested in recent weeks that his top priority is for Iran to scale back its nuclear program. Iran has said it wants talks to focus solely on the nuclear program.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met with Trump in Washington this week, has pressed for any deal to include steps to neutralise Iran’s ballistic missile program and end funding for proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.