Vance push to get Iran talks hits snag, weekend negotiations on hold

ZURICH — The US push to quickly begin high-stakes talks with Iran hit a snag just two days after the signing of an agreement that opens a 60-day window to negotiate a permanent understanding about Iran’s nuclear program while getting oil traffic moving through the Strait of Hormuz back to prewar levels.

Vice President JD Vance had been prepared to make an overnight flight Friday to meet with his Iranian counterparts at a mountainside resort in the tiny Swiss village of Obbürgen and begin the technical talks.

READ: US, Iran sign peace deal: What’s in the 14-point agreement

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His staff and a small pack of journalists had even gathered at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington in anticipation of the trip. Meanwhile, dozens of White House officials, advance staffers and more media gathered in Switzerland to prepare for Vance’s anticipated arrival.

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But then abruptly on Thursday evening the trip was called off — at least for the time being.

The White House issued a statement explaining Vance — who has been tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the negotiations — and his delegation were prepared for talks, but they were unable to finalize plans and the vice president would remain in Washington.

“The logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable,” the statement noted.

The announcement followed a report from Al-Mayadeen, a Pan-Arab satellite channel that is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, that Iran was delaying sending its delegation to Switzerland over Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon.

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Earlier Thursday, Vance gave some indication of the state of flux when he told reporters at a White House briefing that he was uncertain if the talks were going to happen this weekend.

READ: US, Iran reach deal to end war, reopen Hormuz

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“Our plan is to go to Switzerland, I don’t know exactly when,” Vance told reporters. “We think these technical negotiations start sometime this weekend. That’s still the plan. But that could change.”

Soon after Vance spoke to reporters, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei endorsed direct negotiations with the U.S. in a terse statement read by state media that appeared to signal to the Islamic Republic’s leadership that it could move forward with a first round of talks.

“It is obvious that the face-to-face negotiations that will be held in the future will not mean accepting the enemy’s opinion,” Khamenei said in his statement.

The messaging seemed to give Khamenei, who was badly wounded in the Feb. 28 U.S. strike that killed his father, some maneuverability. Hard-liners in the Iranian government, including Khamenei’s father, have long opposed direct talks with the White House, especially after Trump, during his first term, pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration.

READ: Does the Iran war diminish US superpower status?

More importantly for the White House, it appeared to create a permission structure for the talks to start.

The meeting was initially supposed to be a signing ceremony

Vance was initially expected to go to Switzerland to sign the agreement at a formal ceremony. Instead,  Trump signed the document Wednesday during a glitzy dinner at the Palace of Versailles with French President Emmanuel Macron, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian separately signed the agreement.

The agreement states that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under rubble left by US military strikes last year targeting Tehran’s key nuclear sites, must at minimum be diluted under international supervision.

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It also states that Iran shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons — a commitment it has made previously. But a range of other commitments remain to be worked out./dp