The first round of face-to-face negotiations between the United States and Iran concluded early Monday with mediators Qatar and Pakistan announcing “encouraging progress” and agreement on a roadmap toward a final deal within 60 days. The talks, held in the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock, included Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and US Vice President JD Vance, but were briefly disrupted after President Donald Trump posted threats on social media.
The negotiations are the highest-level direct talks since the US and Israel launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28. The roadmap aims to resolve issues including Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions relief, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, while addressing ongoing conflict in Lebanon that threatens the fragile accord.
In a joint statement early Monday, Qatar and Pakistan said a “High Level Committee” had agreed to “a roadmap towards reaching a final deal within 60 days.” The statement said the parties had formed a “communication line” to avoid incidents in the Strait of Hormuz and agreed on the creation of a “de-confliction cell” between the US, Iran, and Lebanon to end military operations there. Araghchi described the de-confliction mechanism as the “first real test” of the understandings reached.
“Pakistani and Qatari mediation has delivered major progress to end Lebanon War,” Araghchi posted on social media after the talks broke up. “Oil and petrochem exports are waived, blockade lifted, some frozen assets released, and major reconstruction & development plan launched for Iran.” The US Treasury was preparing to issue a 60-day waiver lifting sanctions on oil, petrochemicals, and derivatives, the Guardian reported. Qatar and Iran also signed a memorandum on the release of Iranian assets frozen in Qatari bank accounts.
The lead Iranian negotiators have left Switzerland, with technical discussions between lower-level officials due to continue for the rest of the week, Iranian media said.
Earlier, as the talks began, Trump posted on social media that Iran “must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble” and threatened to “hit Iran very hard again” if they did not. Trump also wrote, according to the Guardian: “You close it and you won’t have a country. You won’t even make it back to your fucking country.”
Iranian state media said the talks paused after the “publication of an insulting message by the US President.” The Iranian delegation met with Qatari mediators and left the negotiating site, state media said. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said the delegation refused to return to the room where talks were held but messages were still being exchanged via Pakistani and Qatari mediators. A senior US diplomat said late Sunday that the Iranians remained on site and negotiations were on, the Associated Press reported.
Iran’s lead negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf dismissed Trump’s threats. “Don’t they think that if their threats had any effect, they wouldn’t be in this desperate situation today?” he said. “No matter how much they talk, it is we who take action.”
Speaking before the talks, Vance said Trump had asked negotiators to “turn over a new leaf.” He added that if Iran’s leadership was willing to give up being a “driver of regional instability” and its “nuclear weapons ambitions for the longer term,” then the US “is willing to fundamentally transform our relationship with that country.” Iran has maintained its nuclear program is peaceful.
Under the initial memorandum of understanding signed last week, Iran was to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil travels. The deal includes a $300 billion reconstruction plan for Iran and the termination of all US sanctions. On Sunday, tracking data from MarineTraffic showed some vessels entering and exiting the strait despite Iran’s claim — disputed by the US — to have closed it.
Fighting in Lebanon has continued despite the agreement. Since the MoU was signed, Israeli air strikes have killed at least 67 people, according to the Lebanese health ministry, while Hezbollah attacks have killed five Israeli soldiers. Israel has said its conflict with Hezbollah is separate from the war on Iran and that it has no intention of withdrawing from southern Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has rejected any Israeli military presence, saying the group would defend itself.
Since March 2, at least 4,106 people have been killed in Lebanon, the health ministry says. Israeli authorities report 36 soldiers and four civilians killed on both sides of the border.