Vice President JD Vance arrived in Switzerland, early Sunday, for in-person negotiations with Iran for the first time since the April summit in Islamabad.

The vice president has made the media rounds over the past week to help sell the recently-signed memo of understanding (MOU) to the American public. Now, he is leading the U.S. delegation at the Bürgenstock ski resort in Switzerland in an effort to lock down a more permanent agreement.

Speaking with reporters at Joint Base Andrews before departing for Switzerland Saturday, the vice president spelled out his points of emphasis for the talks.

“I’m looking forward to starting the technical talks with the Iranians, the Pakistanis, and the Qataris,” Vance said. He added, “We’re going to hopefully make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue — those are the two big things that I think we’re going to be focused on.”

The talks come one day after Iran said it was shutting down the Strait of Hormuz in response to deadly clashed between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah. Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire on Friday and reaffirmed that commitment Sunday, despite the clashes on Friday and Saturday.

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are also part of the U.S. negotiating team.

Moments ago, Vance spoke at the summit:

“What today really represents is the beginning of a technical negotiation… [that’s] going to allow us to sit together, as teams, for the first time really in history, to figure out what matters most to the respective parties, to settle those issues and get to a better tomorrow,” Vance said.

——

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!