JD Vance has departed for Switzerland to steer a fresh round of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, after his trip was pushed back by a day.
A video released Saturday afternoon by his press secretary showed the Vice President boarding Air Force Two for the flight to Switzerland.
Iranian state media reported that a senior delegation from Tehran arrived in Switzerland on Saturday for peace talks, which Pakistan said are expected to begin Sunday.
Speaking to reporters before leaving Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Vance said negotiators were likely facing a “couple days of talks.”
“I can only be there for a day or two,” Vance said. “I think we’re going to hopefully make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue.”
Iranian media said the delegation was headed by chief negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and included Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, along with senior officials from the security, central bank and oil sectors.
Vance has been regarded as Donald Trump’s lead figure in the talks, a role that traces back to unsuccessful negotiations in Islamabad during the early months of the Iran war, launched by the U.S. and Israel in late February.
While the U.S. and Iran had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire to allow diplomacy to proceed, Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz had been closed.
JD Vance has finally departed for Switzerland to lead a new round of talks with Iran about its nuclear program after being delayed a day
Negotiators would likely have a ‘couple days of talks,’ Vance told reporters before boarding a plane at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland
This could complicate talks in which both sides seek to advance an interim deal brokered by Pakistan and signed on Wednesday by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to end their almost four-month war.
The IRGC warned ships would be at risk if they approached the waterway, a vital conduit for global oil and gas supplies. Iran cited what it called Israeli ‘crimes’ in Lebanon and a US violation of commitments to establish a ceasefire.
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The Islamic Republic warned all vessels not to approach the shipping lane, which plays a vital role in global trade, and blamed continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
US Central Command said 55 merchant ships had transited the strait on Saturday, moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets, and that U.S. forces would ensure the flow of ships continued.
Trump in a social media post on Saturday wrote that no toll will be charged for passage through the Strait during or after the 60-day ceasefire — unless the U.S. imposes one should peace talks fail.
Vance, in an interview with Fox News, said he was confident the ceasefire agreed in Washington’s 14-point deal with Tehran would hold, and that he had seen no evidence that the strait was closed.
Trump left open the possibility of a Hormuz toll levied by the United States ‘for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East’ if a peace deal is not completed.
Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, accused the US on X of failing to implement the first clause of its 14-point interim deal with Iran, which includes a ceasefire ‘on all fronts’, including Lebanon.
He said that, as long as the agreement was only on paper, the flow of Middle East energy would remain halted.
The Lebanon truce appeared fragile as Israeli forces and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah attacked each other.
One of the conditions for starting 60 days of US-Iranian talks on Tehran’s nuclear program and other issues is a halt to fighting in Lebanon.
However, Lebanese Civil Defence said that 20 people had been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Saturday, hours after a truce there took effect.
Israel said it was responding to attacks from Hezbollah, while the Iran-backed group said it would not allow Israel “freedom of movement” in Lebanon.
Israel, left out of the talks, says it is not party to the Iran-U.S. deal, and will keep its forces in the Lebanese territory it occupies.
A U.S. official had said the truce took effect at 4pm on Friday, and Israeli and Hezbollah sources confirmed the agreement to Reuters.
The Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 reported that the prime minister and defence minister had instructed the military to hold fire in Lebanon, but that it would not withdraw from areas it had captured.
This is a developing story.
