JD Vance said U.S.-Iran negotiations in Switzerland advanced after Tehran agreed to allow IAEA inspectors back, even as tensions over Hormuz persisted.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Monday that negotiations with Iran in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, had made “great progress,” citing Tehran’s agreement to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country.
The talks continued despite a tense weekend in which Iran announced it had closed the Strait of Hormuz over Israeli strikes on Lebanon, saying the strikes violated a ceasefire. Vance acknowledged strains in the discussions but said they had not derailed the process.
“Yes, there was a little bit of threatening, there was a little bit of whining, but at the end of the day, the talks continued, and we made great progress,” Vance told reporters.
Vance described Iran’s agreement to readmit IAEA inspectors as “a major milestone for the American people” and as an initial step toward “permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also said earlier that the talks had produced “major progress.”
The discussions are unfolding against a broader effort to prevent the conflict from spreading. Vance said the United States wants a regional ceasefire, an end to Hezbollah fire on Israel and a system to prevent incidents from escalating into a wider confrontation.
He said negotiators had been working on what he called a deconfliction mechanism, while also noting that significant issues remain, including de-mining in the Strait of Hormuz so shipping traffic can resume more fully.
The waterway is one of the world’s most important energy routes. Shipping through it stalled over the weekend, according to maritime data trackers cited in the source report, after Tehran said it had again closed the key oil chokepoint. The report said roughly a quarter of the world’s total energy supply moves through the strait.
Vance also said Jared Kushner, working with Qatari officials, had helped develop a proposal tied to frozen Iranian assets. Under the arrangement as he described it, the United States would have approval over any process for unfreezing those assets.
Vance said the negotiations had created “a very good foundation for a successful final deal,” while cautioning that “there is still a lot to do.” The next test is whether the inspection agreement and deconfliction process can hold as negotiators try to turn Monday’s progress into a durable accord.
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