Switzerland announced Friday that planned talks following up on the deal to end the Middle East war had been postponed, hours after US Vice President JD Vance’s departure for the Alpine country was cancelled.
The signing of the accord this week was intended to end the
conflict in Iran, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin a 60-day period for
talks on wider issues, including Tehran’s nuclear programme.
At the same time, the deal was to halt the fighting in
Lebanon, but Israel’s military announced on Friday new strikes against
Hezbollah targets in the nation’s south.
“The planned talks between the US, Iran, Qatar and Pakistan
have been postponed,” the Swiss foreign ministry said in a message to AFP.
“Switzerland remains ready to facilitate these talks. The
relevant preparatory work at Burgenstock is continuing,” it added, without
providing a new date for the talks.
It followed the announcement late Thursday from the White
House that Vance’s trip was cancelled, with a spokesperson saying the
“logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable.”
“We look forward to beginning technical talks as soon as
possible.”
In Iran, the Tasnim agency had said “nothing has been
confirmed” about the Iranian delegation’s trip to Switzerland.
The agreement has been signed separately by US President
Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said
Thursday that he had approved the accord, despite reservations, even as the
United States lifted a blockade of Iranian ports.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who took over after his father and
longstanding ruler Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of
the war on February 28, said in a written statement that he held a “different
view” on the deal, without elaborating.
“But I issued my permission due to the commitment” made by
officials including Pezeshkian to “protect the rights of the Iranian nation”.
“Face-to-face negotiations” with the United States will be
held in the future, but that does not “mean accepting the enemy’s point of
view”, he added.
On Friday, Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf
warned that Tehran would give a “decisive” response if the agreement was
breached.
‘Maybe they start fighting again’
American forces on Thursday 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.
Three Saudi oil tankers left the Gulf through the strait on
Thursday, maritime trackers said, as did a French vessel loaded with liquefied
natural gas.
Iranian state TV, citing a statement from the country’s
Supreme National Security Council, said that ships “seeking passage through the
Strait of Hormuz must submit their request” to a new government body tasked
with overseeing the waterway.
In keeping with the terms of the deal, it added, “no fees
whatsoever will be collected from applicants for a period of sixty days”.
The deal is aimed at bringing an end to the US-Israeli
conflict with Iran, which saw five weeks of all-out war until a ceasefire was
struck in early April.
But fighting has not stopped in Lebanon, with Tehran-backed
Hezbollah saying on Friday that its fighters destroyed three Israeli tanks in
the country’s south and that clashes were “ongoing”.
Israel has yet to confirm if its tanks were hit, but its
military said Friday it was striking Hezbollah targets in several areas of
southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March by
attacking Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader at the start of
the US-Israeli campaign.
Some in Tehran were downbeat at the prospects for peace.
“I have no hope that this is a lasting agreement. Maybe
after the 60 days they start fighting again,” said Mina, 54, a psychologist
from Tehran.
‘What does that get us?’
Under the text, Washington commits to immediately waive oil
sanctions crippling Iran’s economy.
And once a final agreement is reached on Iran’s nuclear
programme, the United States will facilitate the release of a $300 billion
reconstruction fund supported by regional nations, the deal says.
Trump’s decision to end the war, in which 13 US service
members were killed and a vast proportion of US ammunition stockpiles was used,
has unsettled some of his allies at home.
US Senator Bill Cassidy from Trump’s Republican Party
described it as the “worst foreign policy blunder in decades”.
But Trump argued that using military force to wring more
concessions out of Tehran would have been counterproductive.
“The only way I can get tougher is if I go in there for
another two or three weeks and continue to bomb the hell out of ’em. Right? But
what does that get us? The Strait of Hormuz will not be open,” he told Axios.
“We wouldn’t have oil for months,” he said. “This is the
kind of thing that could cause a worldwide depression.”
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