Speculation has intensified around Vice President JD Vance after a planned, high-stakes visit to the Swiss Alps for talks with Iranian leaders was called off at the last minute.
As Vance’s team remained on standby at Joint Base Andrews, three people familiar with the matter said Iran’s leadership had already begun testing the fragile U.S.-Iran peace framework, with one source accusing Tehran of “playing games.”
With the diplomatic effort facing fresh uncertainty, President Donald Trump sought to project confidence in a post on Truth Social, pushing back against the idea that Washington had been seeking talks from a position of weakness and laying out new demands.
“We didn’t meet out of desperation, Iran did. They are finished! We’ll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not ten cents!,” Trump wrote.
Behind the scenes, however, some administration officials have expressed frustration over the obstacles facing efforts to end a conflict that began under Trump in coordination with Israel.
“Yeah, the Iranians hold the cards,” one White House source told the Daily Mail. “It is unclear how much more we can do to please them. Iran has also successfully strained America’s relationship with our best ally in the Middle East, Israel.”
The source went further, calling Vance’s now paused voyage a ‘suicide mission.’
Parker Magid, a spokesperson for Vance panned the source, saying ‘there’s no debate that the President holds the cards.’
Vice President JD Vance’s high-stakes trip to the Swiss Alps was abruptly canceled at the eleventh hour
President Donald Trump’s proposed Iran framework is drawing scrutiny from conservatives
‘None of these sources have any influence over or knowledge of this administration whatsoever,’ Magid contended.
Former US diplomat Brett Bruen put it this way: ‘Tehran stood Vance up for the prom and all he can do is sulk on the sofa.’
Bruen, a former Director of Global Engagement at the White House during the Obama and Bush administrations, even called it ‘groveling.’
‘This isn’t American greatness, it’s American groveling for a ceremony to sign a concept of a plan for our capitulation, having secured none of the objectives we set out at the start of the war,’ Bruen said, while adding that Vance’s attempts to ‘spin’ this as a strategic deal, or anything other than a surrender has ‘shred what was left of his credibility and convictions.’
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly refuted this, claiming the memorandum ‘gives the world a real chance at peace’ and that only ‘President Trump, Vice President Vance, and the US negotiating team had the courage to take on the nuclear threat posed by Iran.’
Vance knew Iran was already pulling back from its commitments before he took to the White House podium on Thursday – yet still defended the diplomatic process in public, three insiders, including a highly placed Iranian source, have told the Daily Mail.
During the briefing, he cast doubt on his planned trip to Lucerne for the first time, while defending so-called ‘gentlemen’s agreements’ with Tehran over its uranium stockpiles and nuclear ambitions.
The sudden freeze follows a report by Al-Mayadeen, a pan-Arab satellite channel allied with Hezbollah, claiming Iran was deliberately stalling its delegation to Switzerland over Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon.
Ambassador Mark Wallace, former US Ambassador to the UN, was blunt: ‘Iran’s failure to show up is straight out of their delay and obfuscation playbook. The test for the administration is to show there will be consequences.’
Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies said Iran had shown a ‘predictable lack of seriousness’ from the start, with its goal being to buy time.
The Buergenstock resort, where the US and Iranian delegations were supposed to meet
The official late-night statement from the White House gave little away, betraying the frantic scrambling behind the scenes.
‘The logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable,’ it read on Thursday night, confirming the delegation had been prepared to depart but that technical talks remained unfinished. ‘As of now, the Vice President is not departing tonight.’
The last-minute collapse has reinforced what critics describe as the administration’s desperation to lock down a deal with Iranian leaders who have proven repeatedly unreliable and unyielding.
‘Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy. It operates at the direction of the regime. The attacks against Israel are continued Iranian violations of the deal. One can only hope the Vice President acknowledges this immutable fact,’ said Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
The alpine summit had been billed as the backdrop for intensive talks with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, alongside mediators from Pakistan and Qatar.
Vance has lead negotiations since April, when he headed preliminary talks in Islamabad.
‘If it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD,’ Trump joked to reporters on Wednesday
The overnight collapse vindicates Trump’s own jest from the G7 summit’s final day in France: ‘If it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD. You better be careful, JD. He’s going to turn his plane around and get the hell out of here.’
Vance never even got wheels up.
The Friday signing had already been quietly brought forward – Trump finalizing the MOU over a candlelit Paris dinner Wednesday night while Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed remotely.
But it unraveled before either ceremony took place.
A White House official close to Vance had insisted he was unbothered by the public ribbing. ‘Behind closed doors, he’s just laughing it off,’ the official said. ‘He knows he’s the one up for the job.’
The deal, aimed at ending months of hostilities and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, faces quiet resistance from within the cabinet.
While Vance has been placed as the deal’s front-facing pitchman, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is among the skeptics.
‘No, Secretary Rubio doesn’t love this deal,’ a former White House official said. ‘That’s all I will say.’
The sudden freeze follows a report by Al-Mayadeen, claiming Iran was deliberately stalling its delegation to Switzerland over Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon. Pictured: An Israeli Army airstrike in Lebanon
A State Department insider described Rubio as playing ‘loyal soldier’ while remaining acutely aware of the midterm calculations at play.
‘Rubio knows how these regimes work given his Cuban background. He knows a leopard can’t change its spots.’
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott pushed back: ‘Secretary Rubio and the entire administration are 100 percent in lockstep behind President Trump. The President has taken unprecedented action to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, making the world safer.’
Still, the pressure is on Vance to salvage the framework, with the fallout lying at his feet if it doesn’t come together.
