U.S. and Iranian negotiators began high-stakes talks in Switzerland on Sunday aimed at hammering out the details of a broader agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program, with Iranian officials entering the discussions insisting they will not give up the country’s ability to enrich uranium.The negotiations, led by Vice President JD Vance for the United States and Iranian parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for Tehran, are the first round of talks since Washington and Tehran signed a framework agreement last week intended to end months of conflict and create a path toward a long-term nuclear accord.At issue is one of the most contentious questions in years of U.S.-Iran diplomacy: whether Iran will be allowed to continue enriching uranium and what it will do with the uranium it possesses.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that Tehran “will never back down from the right to enrich uranium, and the other side is also forced to accept it.” But Vance, joined by President Donald Trump’s special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, is seeking limits and verification measures designed to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.The talks are expected to focus on technical details of the nuclear program, implementation of ceasefire provisions tied to the wider regional conflict, and possible sanctions relief for Iran. Negotiators have been given a 60-day window to reach a more comprehensive agreement.ISRAEL ‘REMAINS FIRMLY COMMITTED’ TO CEASEFIRE BUT WILL CONTINUE OCCUPATION OF SOUTHERN LEBANONIran announced days after signing the memorandum of understanding that it had again closed the Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil shipping lane through which one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes, citing a continued Israeli presence in southern Lebanon targeting Iranian-backed Hezbollah that Israel has said are necessary to defend its civilians in the north. It was yet to be seen whether a newly struck ceasefire in Lebanon would hold.Pakistan and Qatar, which helped broker the preliminary agreement, are participating in the discussions as mediators. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Asim Munju were in Switzerland ahead of the talks.
