Talks set to take place on Friday between the United States and Iran on implementing the 14-point agreement to end their war have been cancelled, Switzerland’s foreign ministry has announced.
The talks were set to begin in the tiny Swiss village of Obbürgen on Friday, two days after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that opened a 60-day window to negotiate a permanent understanding about Iran’s nuclear program while getting oil traffic moving through the strait of Hormuz.
The White House said the US looked forward to “beginning technical talks as soon as possible”, as it announced that JD Vance, who is leading negotiations for the Trump administration, would now not be travelling.
“The logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable. As of now the vice-president is not departing tonight,” a White House spokesperson said late on Thursday.
The cancellation of the talks came so abruptly, that Vance’s staff and a small pack of journalists had even gathered at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington in anticipation of the trip. Dozens of White House officials, advance staffers and media were already in Switzerland to prepare for Vance’s anticipated arrival.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said on Thursday that he had approved the MOU despite reservations, while at the same time, the United States officially lifted a blockade of Iranian ports.
But the semi-official Tasnim news agency said before the talks were cancelled, that Iranian negotiators needed to see signs of implementation of the interim agreement from the US before the next rounds of peace talks could begin, and that there was no confirmation that its delegation would travel to Geneva.
The cancellation of the talks came after a report from Al-Mayadeen, an Arabic language network that is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, that said Tehran was delaying sending its delegation to Switzerland due to Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon.
Israel, which was not included in the peace talks and has distanced itself from the US-Iran agreement, has continued its fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon and launched fresh airstrikes early on Thursday.
The MOU calls for the “permanent termination” of the war in Lebanon and for the country’s “territorial integrity and sovereignty” to be ensured. US president Donald Trump has said he expects a complete ceasefire on all fronts.
The government of Benjamin Netanyahu has continued to stress that it has no intention of withdrawing from Lebanon, leading to open criticism from Trump and Vance of Israel’s operations.
On Friday, Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Ghalibaf, warned against any breach of the agreement, saying “in case of misconduct, breach of treaty and excess of the other side, We have no doubt that decisive respond will be given to the enemy.”
The diplomatic back-and-forth over the planned talks adds to the uncertainty over whether a lasting truce can be found to a regional war that has killed at least 7,000 people, sent energy prices soaring and shaken global markets.
Khamenei on Thursday said Trump had signed the deal “out of desperation” and signalled that upcoming talks would not be easy.
“If the American side wants to be too demanding, we will not accept it,” he said in a written message. The deal gives negotiators 60 days to reach agreement on the status of Iran’s nuclear program unless both sides agree to an extension, and set up a $300bn reconstruction fund for Iran and other financial incentives.
On Thursday, US forces lifted their naval blockade of Iranian ports that had prevented ships from sailing to or from the Islamic republic, the US military said, noting that American warships “will remain in the general area”.
Activity was still muted in the strait of Hormuz, the strategic bottleneck for energy shipments that Iran blockaded during the conflict.
With Reuters, the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse