High-level talks between Iran and the United States resulted in “a lot of good progress,” Vice President JD Vance said as he left Switzerland on Monday after the two sides agreed on a road map toward reaching a final deal to end the war within 60 days.
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“We laid a very good foundation for a successful final deal,” Vance said at a press briefing before departing for the U.S. “The final deal is the house. We set the foundation. We haven’t built the house, but we’ve laid a successful foundation to get to a good place for the American people,” he said.
Technical negotiations were continuing in the mountaintop resort of Bürgenstock after a first round of marathon talks between senior figures from both countries. They had got off to a rough start, first canceled and then shaken by President Donald Trump’s renewed threats.
Vance confirmed that Iran had threatened to walk out over those comments, but he defended Trump. “What we told the Iranians yesterday is when you guys engage in what us millennials might call ‘trash talk,’ you can’t expect the president of the United States not to respond and not to correct the record,” Vance said.
The talks ultimately resulted in a joint statement released by mediators Qatar and Pakistan that struck a similarly positive tone, describing a “constructive atmosphere.” Washington and Tehran agreed to to set up new communication lines to ensure the vital Strait of Hormuz is open and end fighting in Lebanon, mediators said.
Vance said that Iran had agreed to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) back into the country.
“Letting in the inspectors is a big deal, but, again, we’re going to see what they actually let the inspectors do once they’re in the country,” Vance told reporters in Switzerland on Monday. “That’s going to continually be a part of our negotiation.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei did not specifically mention the return of IAEA inspectors in comments posted by Iranian state TV on Telegram on Monday.
“Iran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency will continue according to its normal procedure and in line with the resolutions of the parliament and the decisions of the Supreme National Security Council,” Baghaei said. “According to informed officials about the details of yesterday’s talks in Switzerland, during the 18 hour negotiations, Iran did not hold any discussions on the nuclear file and has not accepted any new commitments.”
Vance also said that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner came up with “a very interesting solution” to unfreezing Iran’s assets that would involve U.S. and Qatari approval and then the use of the money for purchases of U.S. soy, corn and wheat. He said this was a “classic Trump deal.”
“That money is not going to be unfrozen unless we continue to see progress, and that will obviously be a big part of the negotiation in the days to come,” Vance told reporters in Switzerland on Monday.
Iran’s semiofficial Mehr News Agency reported Monday that the negotiating team, headed by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has departed from Switzerland “after approximately 18 hours of intensive talks and consultations.” But the agency said Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi was heading the Iranian team in technical talks.
