{"id":89054,"date":"2026-06-21T14:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T14:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/89054\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T14:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T14:23:09","slug":"us-iran-talks-in-switzerland-is-lebanon-top-of-agenda-who-is-attending-us-israel-war-on-iran-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/89054\/","title":{"rendered":"US-Iran talks in Switzerland: Is Lebanon top of agenda; who is attending? | US-Israel war on Iran News"},"content":{"rendered":"

United States and Iranian delegations are holding high-level technical talks<\/a> in Switzerland, as a deal signed on Thursday between Tehran and Washington is strained by continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Iran says the deal includes a ceasefire in Lebanon and that the Israeli attacks are a violation of the agreement.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s talks will be mediated by Pakistan and Qatar, and come after US President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) electronically on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we know:<\/p>\n

Who is attending?<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s talks<\/a> are being held in the Swiss town of Burgenstock at a luxury hotel complex above Lake Lucerne.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s delegation for the talks is led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.<\/p>\n

The US delegation is led by Vice President JD Vance and includes Trump\u2019s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir, as well as Qatar\u2019s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, are also expected to take part in the talks, as Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced they were closing the Strait of Hormuz over ceasefire violations in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Before departing for the talks on Saturday, Vance told reporters in the US that he hopes to make \u201cprogress on the nuclear issue\u201d and \u201con the Lebanon ceasefire issue\u201d.<\/p>\n

Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the Iranian delegation \u201cwill be pressing for implementation\u201d of the US\u2019s commitments outlined in the MoU and \u201cseeking clarity on how exactly the other side intends to carry out those commitments\u201d.<\/p>\n

What is on the agenda?<\/p>\n

Speaking just before the talks on Sunday, Baghaei said a \u2060quadrilateral \u2060meeting between Iran, the US, \u2060Qatar and Pakistan will be \u2060held in Burgenstock.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Zionist regime continues to violate its commitment in Lebanon. This issue will be the main topic of discussion in today\u2019s talks,\u201d Baghaei said in a video shared by the IRNA state news agency.<\/p>\n

The technical talks between the US and Iran will take place for 60 days, where officials from both sides are expected to discuss the final phase of the peace process and find solutions to resolve major sticking points, such as Iran\u2019s nuclear programme and Israel\u2019s war on Lebanon.<\/p>\n

But, reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera\u2019s Resul Serdar Atas said that on Saturday, just before taking off from Tehran and heading for Switzerland, the chief negotiator for Iran, Ghalibaf, said Iran is going to Switzerland mainly to remind the Americans that first they need to implement or at least initiate the implementation of the MoU, and that the technical talks are going to take place once the Americans accept that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere, they [Iran] are talking particularly about \u2026 the cessation of hostilities in Lebanon, the lifting of the US maritime blockade, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the release of Iranian frozen assets and, of course, the lifting of US sanctions when it comes to Iran\u2019s oil sector and petrochemical products and related sectors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mohammad Mokhber, adviser and assistant to Iran\u2019s supreme leader, warned on Sunday that Tehran would not accept a paper agreement and that Washington must fully implement its commitments.<\/p>\n

In a post on X, Mokhber said the US understood pressure in economic terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans understand the language of economics and cost-benefit better,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWhen the agreement remains just on paper, the flow of Middle East energy will also come to a halt.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur negotiators will not be satisfied except with the full implementation of commitments and the fulfilment of the nation\u2019s rights,\u201d he added. Mokhber also invoked those killed in the conflict, saying Iran would not forget them.<\/p>\n

Lebanon<\/p>\n

The ceasefire in Lebanon is, however, expected to dominate the first day of talks. Israeli forces killed dozens of people in Lebanon on Saturday, despite a reported ceasefire with Hezbollah.<\/p>\n

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera\u2019s Mohammed Vall said Iran is not going to move forward in the implementation of the MoU unless the Israelis abide by the agreement.<\/p>\n

The first clause of the MoU states that the US and Iran have agreed to the \u201cimmediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon\u201d.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the memorandum adds that both sides will commit to ensuring the \u201cterritorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, it makes no mention of Israel, which currently occupies one-fifth of the country and has subjected Lebanon to near-daily attacks since early March, killing more than 4,000 people and displacing more than one million from their homes.<\/p>\n

Vall said that, according to Iran, the Americans bear the responsibility of ensuring that Israel complies with the agreement.<\/p>\n

Ross Harrison, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Al Jazeera that officials from both sides want to make sure that before they move to phase two of technical talks, which includes Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, they want to ensure that phase one, which is abiding by every clause of the MoU, is successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the Iranians have a very clear position there, and that is that, given that during negotiations in the past both Israel and the United States have bombed Iran \u2026 they want to make sure that in fact the United States can impose its will on Israel in terms of restraining their actions in Lebanon vis-a-vis Hezbollah,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Harrison said Iran considers the US obligated by the MoU to rein in Israel, which is not a signatory to the memo and could still act to spoil it.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, Israel could be a spoiler in this kind of a negotiation. They\u2019re not a signatory, so in theory they\u2019re not bound by the agreement. So, it\u2019s not a breach between Iran and Israel. It\u2019s a breach actually between Iran and the United States if the United States cannot impose its will and actually get Israel to abide by the ceasefire,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Nuclear programme<\/p>\n

When the technical talks begin, discussion of Iran\u2019s nuclear programme will be a key topic.<\/p>\n

After decades of hostilities, Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme remains the central contentious point between the US and Iran.<\/p>\n

The US has made it clear that Iran must not possess, buy or develop nuclear weapons \u2013 or even have the capacity to be able to do so.<\/p>\n

Iran, conversely, maintains that its programme is for civilian purposes and that it may be willing to negotiate limits to its nuclear activities if sanctions are removed.<\/p>\n

What about the Strait of Hormuz?<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Iran said the Strait of Hormuz, a global energy chokepoint, is closed again over Israel\u2019s continued attacks in Lebanon, but the US military said the waterway remains open to all vessels.<\/p>\n

The US military\u2019s Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Saturday that commercial ship traffic in the strait increased by June 20. \u201cSafe passage through the international waterway remained intact today as 55 merchant ships transited, moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

On the same day, Trump pledged there would be no tolls for passage through the strait, unless they are collected by his own country. \u201cThere will be NO TOLLS in the Hormuz Strait for 60 days during the Cease Fire Period, and there will be NO TOLLS after the 60 day period has expired,\u201d Trump wrote, \u201cunless they are imposed by and for the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

The de facto closure of the strait and subsequent US naval blockade of Iranian ports triggered a global energy crisis and threatened to send the world\u2019s economy into depression. The spike in oil prices in the US and its impact on the cost of living are among the factors that played a role in Trump\u2019s decision to end the war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"United States and Iranian delegations are holding high-level technical talks in Switzerland, as a deal signed on Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[43543,3188,239,1202,41,17,74,7199,18445],"class_list":["post-89054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-explainer","tag-iran","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-swiss","tag-switzerland","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada","tag-us-israel-war-on-iran"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116788553690682424","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89054","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=89054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}