New Delhi: Iran said it has closed the Strait of Hormuz for shipping transit due to what it called Israel’s violation of a ceasefire, even as Pakistan said US-Iran talks were set to open in Switzerland on Sunday.
The Hormuz action casts a new cloud over the talks, which are aimed at permanently ending a conflict that’s thrown the Middle East into disarray. The immediate impact on vessel traffic was unclear, but even before the recent ceasefire, millions of barrels of oil had been quietly escaping the waterway each day.Iran’s joint military command said the closure is Iran’s first step in response to Israel’s continued attacks in southern Lebanon, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.
Negotiations on a peace deal were meant to start on Friday, but were delayed after fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon intensified. But the negotiating session appears to be back on track, with Pakistan announcing that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and military chief Asim Munir are headed to Burgenstock, Switzerland, for talks beginning Sunday.Vice President JD Vance, who had originally planned to be in Switzerland on Friday, said US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were already there laying the groundwork for technical talks, and that he hoped to travel there in “the next couple of days.”“I am very confident we can maintain the ceasefire,” he said in an interview with Fox News. “We’re going to give this negotiation a chance.”The Iranian delegation heading to Switzerland includes Parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati, according to the state-run IRIB News.Oil Watch
