{"id":546607,"date":"2026-06-21T11:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T11:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/546607\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T11:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T11:09:14","slug":"jd-vance-arrives-in-switzerland-after-iran-declares-strait-of-hormuz-closed-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/546607\/","title":{"rendered":"JD Vance arrives in Switzerland after Iran declares Strait of Hormuz closed \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A high-level Iranian<\/a> team departed for Switzerland<\/a> on Saturday for talks with the United States, Iranian state media reported, while US<\/a> vice-president \u200bJD Vance<\/a> has arrived there, for meetings that Pakistan<\/a> said will begin on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The talks follow a Memorandum of Understanding agreed by both major parties to the Middle East conflict, instituting a ceasefire and outlining a future deal.<\/p>\n

The Iranian delegation was being led by chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and included foreign minister Abbas Araqchi as well as senior security, central bank and oil officials, Iranian media said.<\/p>\n

Hours earlier, Tehran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had declared the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> shut, appearing to raise the stakes ahead of the talks \u200bas both sides seek to advance the interim deal signed on Wednesday by US president Donald Trump<\/a> and Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian to end the almost four-month war.<\/p>\n

The IRGC warned ships not to approach the waterway, a \u2060vital conduit for global oil and gas supplies whose closure Iran has used as leverage, citing what it called Israeli \u201ccrimes\u201d in Lebanon<\/a> and a US violation \u200cof \u200ccommitments \u200bto establish a ceasefire. It said vessels would be at risk if they approached.<\/p>\n

US Central Command, however, said that 55 merchant ships had transited the Strait on Saturday, moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to \u2060global markets.<\/p>\n

Iran<\/a>\u2019s \u200ctop joint military command, Khatam \u200cal-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said earlier on Saturday that the closure \u2060was the \u201cfirst \u2060step\u201d \u200bin response to what it described as breaches of commitments and warned \u200cthat further measures \u2060would be taken if \u201caggression\u201d continued.<\/p>\n

\"LebaneseLebanese rescuers help a man at the site of an Israeli airstrike on the town of Qannarit, Sidon district, southern Lebanon, on Saturday. Photograph: Stringer\/EPA <\/p>\n

Israeli<\/a> strikes killed 16 people in Lebanon on Saturday, hours after a truce took effect, with Israel saying it was responding to attacks from Hizbullah<\/a>, which in turn said it would not allow Israel \u201cfreedom of movement\u201d in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

A halt to fighting in Lebanon \u200bis a condition for starting 60 days of US-Iranian talks on Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme and other issues key to forging a more durable deal to reopen the strait and stabilise global oil supplies. <\/p>\n

Israel, left out of the talks, says it is not party to the deal, and will keep its forces in the Lebanese territory it occupies.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least nine people, including a child, in the Gaza Strip<\/a> on Saturday, health officials said.<\/p>\n

An Israeli air strike killed four \u200bPalestinians<\/a>, including two women and a child, in an apartment building in Gaza City, health officials said. The attack on \u200bthe building in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City destroyed \u2060the apartment and wounded several other people, medics added. The Israeli military said they stuck \u2060a militant, without elaborating.<\/p>\n

In \u200canother \u200cincident, \u200bIsraeli forces shot and killed a woman in Beit Lahiya town further \u2060north, said medics.<\/p>\n

The \u200bIsraeli military did not \u200bimmediately comment on either incident.<\/p>\n

Gaza\u2019s health ministry said more than 1,010 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire since \u200cthe ceasefire. Militants killed four Israeli soldiers in Gaza \u200bover the same period.<\/p>\n

A US official \u200bhad said the truce in Lebanon took effect at 1pm Irish time on Friday, and Israeli and Hizbullah sources confirmed the agreement to Reuters.<\/p>\n

\"SmokeSmoke rises from the site of a string of Israeli air strikes that targeted the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on Saturday. Photograph: Abbas Fakih\/AFP via Getty <\/p>\n

Lebanon\u2019s state news agency NNA said Israeli warplanes and drones struck locations across southern Lebanon and \u2060the Bekaa Valley on Saturday, both Hizbullah strongholds.<\/p>\n

Lebanon\u2019s civil defence service said 16 people were killed in the raids.<\/p>\n

A Hizbullah statement said its fighters had confronted Israeli forces trying to infiltrate the Ali al-Taher hill \u2060area in southern Lebanon overnight, and had inflicted casualties. A senior Hizbullah official told Reuters the \u200bgroup would not allow Israeli forces freedom of movement in Lebanese territory.<\/p>\n

Lebanon was drawn into the regional war when Hizbullah attacked Israel after the US and Israel began their war \u200con Iran. Israel responded with an offensive against Hizbullah that included invading south Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Lebanon\u2019s health ministry says 3,912 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since March 2nd, including medics, women and children. It does not say how many combatants are among the dead.<\/p>\n

Israel says at least 32 Israeli soldiers and four civilians have been killed in the conflict with Hizbullah.<\/p>\n

Switzerland said it continued to provide a \u201cdiscreet and reliable setting\u201d at the mountaintop resort of Buergenstock to facilitate discussions between the US and Iran. Its foreign ministry said no further details would be disclosed about participants and the talks\u2019 content, citing confidentiality.<\/p>\n

On \u2060Friday, Swiss authorities met officials from Qatar, which has also been supporting the negotiations, at Buergenstock.<\/p>\n

The Iran war has killed at least 8,000 people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon. It has \u200cpushed up energy prices, stoking inflation worldwide. Hizbullah has not disclosed its casualty figures.<\/p>\n

The interim deal includes sanctions relief for Iran, the unfreezing of assets worth tens of billions of dollars and immediate US waivers for its oil exports. It also envisages a $300 billion reconstruction \u200bfund and other incentives.<\/p>\n

Trump again defended the deal after criticism in Washington, including some from Republican allies in Congress who question whether he conceded \u200btoo much to end a war unpopular with most Americans ahead of midterm elections in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe War has diminished Iran!\u201d Trump wrote on social media on Friday, adding, \u201cWe didn\u2019t meet out of desperation, Iran did. They are FINISHED! We\u2019ll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not 10 cents!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChildrenChildren stand along a promontory overlooking shelters for people displaced by war, at the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on June 19th. Photograph: Eyad Baba\/AFP via Getty <\/p>\n

An October ceasefire in Gaza may \u200chave halted major fighting between Hamas<\/a> \u200band Israel, but it has failed to \u2060end Israeli attacks.<\/p>\n

Gaza\u2019s \u2060health \u200bministry said more than 1,010 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire. Four Israeli soldiers were killed by militants in Gaza over the same period.<\/p>\n

Israel says its strikes are aimed at thwarting imminent attacks \u200cby Hamas and \u2060other militants. Hamas rarely discloses information about deaths of its fighters.<\/p>\n

Israel and Hamas remain \u200cdeadlocked over how to proceed with the next stage of Trump\u2019s Gaza plan, which involves Hamas \u200blaying down its arms and Israeli withdrawals. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A high-level Iranian team departed for Switzerland on Saturday for talks with the United States, Iranian state media…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,356,18,13,14,69,6,21029,19,18929,17,71,6220,45036,12175,11,12,14407,15,16,5,2214,72,2423,7,8,384],"class_list":["post-546607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-donald-trump","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-hamas","tag-headlines","tag-hizbullah","tag-ie","tag-iran","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-israel-defence-forces","tag-israel-iran-conflict","tag-jd-vance","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-lebanon","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-pakistan","tag-palestine","tag-switzerland","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-united-states"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116787791715992925","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}