Mediators Qatar and Pakistan hail \u2018encouraging progress\u2019 on the first day of Iran-US talks.<\/p>\n
Published On 22 Jun 202622 Jun 2026<\/p>\n
The first round of talks between the US and Iran in Switzerland has concluded, with mediators saying \u201cencouraging progress\u201d has been made, \u201cincluding the creation of a mechanism for further technical talks\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mediators Pakistan and Qatar say the parties have agreed to establish a high-level committee to oversee the process. Chief negotiators will report to it and lead working groups on nuclear issues, sanctions and dispute resolution.<\/p>\n
Technical negotiations, however, will continue this week as the two sides aim to discuss a host of issues, including Israel\u2019s attacks on Lebanon and free passage through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we know as the war enters its 115th day.<\/p>\n
Diplomacy
\nAccording to Pakistan and Qatar, the US and Iran have agreed on a 60-day roadmap to reach a final deal. A high-level committee has been established to provide political oversight of the mediation. Chief negotiators will regularly report to the committee and oversee working groups, including on Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme and US sanctions on Iran.
\nThe parties have set up \u201ca communication line\u201d on the Strait of Hormuz and a \u201cde-confliction cell\u201d to end military operations in Lebanon.
\nThomas Warrick, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, says the upcoming technical talks will be \u201creally hard\u201d and could take longer than the 60 days included in the interim deal. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to have a deal on the nuclear file, without also having a deal on the sanctions and the frozen assets,\u201d Warrick told Al Jazeera. \u201cSo this is a situation where one side gives on what the other side wants the most and then gives up in return what the other side wants.\u201d
\nIn Iran
\nIranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has hailed \u201cmajor progress\u201d to end the war in Lebanon and said the US has agreed to waive sanctions on Iranian oil and release some frozen assets.
\nIranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the work of Tehran\u2019s negotiating team in Switzerland is now \u201ccomplete\u201d and technical teams would continue their work this week.
\nThe head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps\u2019s Quds Force has warned Israel to leave southern Lebanon or face a repeat of its unconditional withdrawal from the country in 2000. Esmail Qaani said in a post on social media that if Israel persisted in its \u201caggression and occupation\u201d, it would be kicked out in \u201chumiliation and defeat\u201d, according to state-run Press TV.
\nIran\u2019s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has dismissed US President Donald Trump\u2019s latest threats, saying the US should be careful with its rhetoric. Earlier, Trump threatened to attack Iran over its support of Hezbollah.
\nIn the US
\nThe US military\u2019s Central Command has said that US \u201cforces continue to be present in the skies, on land, and at sea\u201d throughout the Middle East.\u00a0CENTCOM shared a photograph of two warplanes it said were conducting a \u201croutine patrol\u201d.
\nIn Lebanon
\nAl Jazeera\u2019s Heidi Pett, reporting from Nabatieh, said a ceasefire \u201cappears to be taking hold\u201d in Lebanon after days of deadly attacks. \u201cThere has been a cautious calm here in Nabatieh as a ceasefire appears to be taking hold. But it has followed a very brutal and bloody couple of days for this city and the surrounding towns and villages,\u201d she said.
\nIsraeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said his forces will remain in southern Lebanon as long as necessary, as Hezbollah vows to confront any violation of the ceasefire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mediators Qatar and Pakistan hail \u2018encouraging progress\u2019 on the first day of Iran-US talks. Published On 22 Jun…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[43543,3188,1731,42348,239,1202,17,74,7199,18445],"class_list":["post-89552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-explainer","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-lebanon","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-switzerland","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada","tag-us-israel-war-on-iran"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116792863099676727","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89552","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=89552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}