{"id":88910,"date":"2026-06-21T09:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T09:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/88910\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T09:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T09:48:10","slug":"vance-and-iranian-officials-arrive-in-switzerland-to-launch-talks-on-tehrans-nuclear-program-national-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/88910\/","title":{"rendered":"Vance and Iranian officials arrive in Switzerland to launch talks on Tehran\u2019s nuclear program | National News"},"content":{"rendered":"

OBBUERGEN, Switzerland (AP) \u2014 U.S. Vice President JD Vance<\/a> and senior Iranian officials arrived in Switzerland on Sunday to formally launch negotiations over Tehran\u2019s nuclear program<\/a> and build out the fragile interim deal to end the war<\/a> in Iran.<\/p>\n

The framework was signed last week, and now top U.S. and Iranian negotiators are in a 60-day sprint to reach an agreement<\/a> on the technical details that hold massive implications for the world economy and global security.<\/p>\n

Yet only days after signing the agreement, it\u2019s being stress-tested after fighting escalated in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah \u2014 and by the subsequent announcement by Iran\u2019s military<\/a> that it had closed the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, the vital waterway that transits a fifth of the world\u2019s traded oil and natural gas.<\/p>\n

Vance had originally been slated to be on the ground at the picturesque B\u00fcrgenstock resort near Lucerne on Friday, but his departure from the United States was delayed<\/a> after fighting escalated in Lebanon and Iranian officials canceled plans to attend the talks.<\/p>\n

Delegations from the U.S. and Iran, as well as mediators Pakistan and Qatar, arrived at the picturesque mountainside resort near Lake Lucerne on Sunday morning. Talks were expected to begin soon, according to the Swiss government.<\/p>\n

U.S. Central Command disputed Iran\u2019s claim that it had once again shuttered the strait and said U.S. forces continued to monitor the situation to ensure traffic continues to flow through the waterway. Vance has said that millions of barrels of oil have moved through the strait<\/a> in recent days.<\/p>\n

Vance departed the U.S. just after Iranian state TV said Iran\u2019s negotiators had arrived in Switzerland. Tehran\u2019s negotiators include parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf<\/a> and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, along with central bank and oil officials.<\/p>\n

The U.S. vice president joins special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, who have already been on the ground to begin sifting through the technical details of the nuclear talks.<\/p>\n

The talks between the U.S. and Iran will also include Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir<\/a>, as well as Qatari mediators. Pakistan\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Sharif will also meet separately with each delegation from Iran, Switzerland and the U.S. \u201cto reaffirm Pakistan\u2019s enduring commitment to dialogue and durable peace in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, arrived at Emmen Air Base outside Lucerne just before 6 a.m. local time, according to his office.<\/p>\n

While Vance said he planned to be in Switzerland for just \u201ca day or two,\u201d leaving much of the detailed negotiations to be spearheaded by Witkoff and Kushner, his role in the talks has heightened scrutiny of the vice president<\/a> at a time when he\u2019s actively considering a 2028 presidential campaign.<\/p>\n

Trump and Vance have come under searing criticism from parts of their own party<\/a> for the deal, with Republican hard-liners unfavorably likening it to a nuclear agreement signed by the Obama administration that Trump and the GOP have insisted did nothing to actually terminate Iran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n

The agreement signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian<\/a> immediately allows Tehran to sell its oil freely and paves the way for Iran to tap into billions of dollars in assets that are currently frozen. It also calls for Iran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, believed to be buried under nuclear sites that were targeted in U.S. strikes last summer.<\/p>\n

The agreement says commercial vessels can pass through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days without a charge, but does not preclude future fees imposed by Iran. Trump made his own threat on Saturday to levy U.S. tolls on the strait if there is no deal with Iran in 60 days, insisting in a social media post that the money would be for \u201cservices rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has been working to reassure global markets that the Iran war has been merely a blip on oil prices, as Americans have complained the conflict resulted in hiking gasoline prices ahead of peak summer travel months. After the White House announced the deal a week ago, oil futures dropped almost 8% \u2014 and markets are expected to closely track the progress of talks when they open for trading on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

Further complicating matters, neither Israel nor Hezbollah is a signatory to the deal between the U.S. and Iran, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep his forces in southern Lebanon until any threat to Israel is eliminated. Hezbollah has refused to halt its attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawing from Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in the initial days after the agreement between the U.S. and Iran killed 47 people in Lebanon, as well as four Israeli soldiers.<\/p>\n

Kim reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OBBUERGEN, Switzerland (AP) \u2014 U.S. Vice President JD Vance and senior Iranian officials arrived in Switzerland on Sunday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[8251,2783,5556,45033,5649,8253,7294,45034,69,17,7298,1046],"class_list":["post-88910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-energy-industry","tag-general-news","tag-government-programs","tag-iran-vance-trump-nuclear-negotiations","tag-iran-war","tag-military-and-defense","tag-nuclear-weapons","tag-oil-and-gas-industry","tag-politics","tag-switzerland","tag-washington-news","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116787472278031039","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}