US Vice President Vance Says Meeting in Switzerland a Very Good Foundation for a Final Deal with Iran

JAKARTA - US Vice President JD Vance said on Monday that negotiations with Iran at the Burgenstock resort in Switzerland had made significant progress, adding that the parties had laid a "very good foundation" to reach a final agreement.

Tehran and Washington held peace talks with the mediation of Pakistan and Qatar at the Lake Lucerne Summit at the Burgenstock Resort, Switzerland, Sunday (21/6).

The meeting was held following the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, which consists of 14 points and was signed by President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian last week.

The US delegation was led by Vice President JD Vance. From the Iranian side there was the Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Galibaf. Meanwhile, Pakistan is led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Qatar is led by Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

"Yesterday was a very, very good day. We made a lot of good progress," Vice President Vance told reporters, launching Anadolu (22/6).

Vice President Vance said the discussion achieved several main goals, including building a mechanism to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and a de-escalation mechanism between Israel and Lebanon.

"This arrangement is intended to ensure that "when something happens, the two sides really talk to each other," and to prevent tensions from escalating into a wider regional escalation," he said.

Furthermore, Vice President Vance also announced what he described as a major breakthrough in the nuclear issue.

"Iran has agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back to their country. This is an important milestone for the American people, and the first step in permanent denuclearization or permanent termination of the nuclear weapons program in Iran," he said.

Vice President Vance said US, Iranian, Qatari and Pakistani negotiators had also agreed on a framework for continued engagement.

"Our team, which is working with Iran, Qatar, and Pakistan, has made great progress yesterday," he explained.

"They will continue to work at the technical level with the team at Burgenstock. These technical negotiations will continue over the coming weeks and days," he said.

He added that the talks had established a structure that would allow technical discussions to continue under political supervision as negotiators sought to reach a comprehensive agreement.

"We have laid a very good foundation for a successful final deal," he said.

"The final agreement is his house. We have laid the foundation. We have not built his house, but we have laid a successful foundation," he said.

Vice President Vance dismissed concerns that talks had failed, saying negotiations continued "until past 1 a.m." despite reports that Iran might leave the talks.