U.S. Vice President Jay D. Vance will not be traveling to Switzerland to begin negotiations aimed at reaching a final agreement with Iran.
This was announced by the White House, following the signing of the bilateral framework agreement in principle by the presidents of the two countries the previous day.
“Plans for the upcoming technical talks have not been finalized,” though “the U.S. delegation is prepared to depart at the earliest opportunity.” However, the details of “these negotiations have never been simple or predictable,” and “for the time being, the vice president will not be leaving tonight,” according to a statement from the U.S. presidency.
Mr. Vance had said earlier that the countdown to the expiration of the 60-day deadline for reaching a final peace agreement between the U.S. and Iran began yesterday and that he expectedto travel to Switzerland “this weekend,” though he was not certain.
The negotiations, which will last 60 days—though this period may be extended if the parties agree—will focus on Iran’s nuclear program.
They were set to begin immediately after the official signing ceremony scheduled for today at a luxury hotel in Birgenstein, a mountain overlooking Lake Lucerne in Switzerland.
Mohtaba Khamenei approved the agreement
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mohtaba Khamenei, signed yesterday, Thursday—though he expressed reservations—the framework agreement signed overnight by Washington to end the war in the Middle East, while the U.S. armed forces announced, for their part, the lifting of the blockade they had imposed on Iranian ports.
In his first reaction following the signing of the “Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding,” the Supreme Leader emphasized in a message that he had approved the agreement despite the existence of “opposing views,” without going into details.
“It is obvious that the face-to-face negotiations to be held in the future do not imply acceptance of the enemy’s views,” stressed Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not made any public appearances since succeeding his father in March, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the early hours of the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes.
In the meantime, traffic has resumed in the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime artery of strategic importance for global hydrocarbon trade, which Iran effectively closed when the war began, leading the U.S. to impose a blockade on Iranian ports—which was announced to be lifted yesterday, as stipulated in the agreement.
The U.S. military allowed “more than ten ships to pass,” said U.S. Vice President Vance.
