US-Iran talks: JD Vance meets top Iranian officials in Switzerland

US Vice President JD Vance met top Iranian officials in Obburgen, Switzerland, on Sunday to advance last week’s interim deal aimed at ending the war in Iran. Talks included Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, with mediators from Pakistan and Qatar present.

Obburgen: US Vice President JD Vance on Sunday is meeting with top Iranian officials as the White House looks to build out the interim deal to end the war in Iran reached by the two sides last week.

Vance was expected to meet with Tehran’s negotiators, including parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, at a Swiss mountainside resort near Lake Lucerne. Mediators from Pakistan and Qatar were also in the room for the direct engagement.

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Iranian officials appeared to avoid being seen during a brief appearance by Vance in front of reporters before the start of the talks. IRIB, the Iranian state broadcaster, announced the four-way talks had begun shortly after Vance delivered a statement to media and took a couple of questions from reporters.

The US side is looking to get Iran locked into negotiations over its nuclear program.

But the on-again, off-again conflict in Lebanon, between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants, continues to threaten to derail the effort for the US to win concessions from Tehran on its nuclear program and keep the Strait of Hormuz open.

Iran’s main focus during negotiations on Sunday would be the ongoing war between Israel and Lebanon, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told Iran’s state news agency ahead of the meeting with Vance.