Qatar’s and Pakistan’s foreign affairs ministries described the session in a joint statement as “positive” and “constructive.”
The main success of Sunday’s talks was the establishment of a “High Level Committee” with political oversight of mediation, which agreed on a road map “towards reaching a final deal within 60 days, laying the foundation for the immediate commencement of further technical talks” on nuclear weapons, sanctions and dispute resolution.
The talks also led to the creation of a deconfliction line between the parties and Lebanon. Fighting in southern Lebanon between Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel has continued even as talks in Switzerland progressed.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on X that the meeting delivered “major progress to end [the] Lebanon War,” and noted progress on oil exports, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, frozen Iranian assets and major reconstruction plans for Iran.
Talks are scheduled to continue for the rest of the week.
The talks came as Tehran protested President Donald Trump’s recent comments potentially threatening the days-old peace.
“The Iranian delegation has expressed its protest to the American side and is now reviewing an appropriate response to Donald Trump’s recent verbal threats,” Iranian officials said through Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency translated to English, adding that “any form of threat is considered a serious violation of the agreement.”
It was unclear which of Trump’s statements they were referring to. However, earlier Sunday, Trump posted on Truth Social that “we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” unless it stops “their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon,” referring to Hezbollah.
And in a phone interview Sunday morning with Fox News, Trump said he spoke with the Iranians overnight, delivering a stark warning that if Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. will “blow the s--- out of them.”
“You close it and you won’t have a country,” Fox News’ Trey Yingst reported the president’s telling him Sunday morning. “You won’t even make it back to your f------ country.”
Told during the phone call that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran will maintain its right to enrich uranium, Yingst said, Trump responded that “he better watch his mouth” and “he better shape up or we’ll take over the rest of the country.”
Trump described the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding as “just an option,” saying, “I can do whatever I want after that option.”
Vance, joined at the negotiations by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, met with a senior Iranian delegation to discuss the technical details of a memorandum of understanding signed last week. Mediators from Qatar and Pakistan also joined the talks.
