Vance hails peace talks progress and says Iran has agreed to allow nuclear inspectors
Vance said the talks in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, had made "great progress" despite “threatening and whining”
US Vice President JD Vance has hailed a “very good day” of peace talks and said Tehran had agreed to let nuclear inspectors into Iran.
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Speaking on Monday, Vance said the talks in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, had made "great progress" despite “threatening and whining”.
The two sides, trying to build on an interim deal signed last week, agreed to a roadmap towards a permanent agreement within 60 days at the talks, mediators Pakistan and Qatar said.
Vance said: "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”.
He added Tehran’s agreement to permit International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors into the country marked a “milestone” in the road to “permanently denuclearizing or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran."
They also agreed on a mechanism to end fighting in Lebanon between US ally Israel and Iran-aligned Hezbollah, and opened a communications line to help ensure safe passage for commercial ships through the strait, a vital global oil supply route.
Vance said White House envoy Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, had come up with a process where the US and Qatar would have control over Iranian funds when they are unfrozen that would allow the money to be spent on US corn, soy and wheat.
Tensions between the two sides ramped up over the weekend when Iran announced it had closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which 25% of the world’s oil flows, in response to Israeli strikes on Lebanon, which it said marked a violation of the ceasefire.
Just before talks officially began on Sunday, Fox News reported that Trump said he told Iranian officials "you won't have a country" if they tried to close the strait again.
Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency, citing an informed source, said that after Trump's threats became public, the Iranian delegation refused to return to the room where talks were held, though messages were traded via the mediators.
The Memorandum of Understanding calls for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending all hostilities, including in Lebanon, where violence continued after a ceasefire was declared on Friday.
Accusing the US of failing to meet its commitment to halt fighting in Lebanon, Iran said at the weekend that it had again stopped maritime traffic through the strait.
But ship tracking data showed two crude tankers with just under 2 million barrels of oil had sailed through the strait on Monday, in a sign that traffic is picking up again, even though the sailings through Hormuz are still a fraction of the average daily crossings of 125 vessels before the Iran war began.
Thousands of people have been killed in the US-Israeli war against Iran, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, where Hezbollah opened fire in support of Iran on March 2.