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Threats as talks begin
US President Donald Trump threatened to restart war with Iran even as Vice President JD Vance met Iranian officials for the first talks under an interim peace deal at Buergenstock in Switzerland.
The talks were held under a memorandum of understanding agreed a week ago that calls for the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened and a halt to all hostilities, including in Lebanon, which the US ally Israel invaded in March.
Iran said it had shut the strait again because Washington had failed to meet its commitment to halt fighting in Lebanon, and Trump’s threats were described as including a demand that Iran stop its “highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble.”
The Guardian reported that Iranian negotiators suspended high-stakes talks with the US in Switzerland in protest at a stream of threats issued by Donald Trump to bomb Iran, and even to kidnap the Iranian negotiating team unless the strait of Hormuz is reopened.
The same Guardian account said Iran reached a draft agreement over how the US will issue a waiver lifting sanctions on Iranian oil exports before leaving the face-to-face talks in Bürgenstock.
Vance downplays, Iran responds
At the talks in Switzerland, Vance played down the impact of violence in Lebanon, saying progress had been made towards ending hostilities there, and he told reporters that the US president had “asked us to turn over a new leaf to transform our relationship with the people of Iran.”
Iran’s lead negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X, “They would do better to be careful about their statements,” and added, “Our armed forces are prepared to respond to them in a different manner.”
The Guardian quoted Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf saying, “Don’t they think to themselves that if their threats had any effect, they wouldn’t have reached the desperation they face today?”
The Straits Times framed the same sequence as Trump threatening Iran with fresh strikes as Vance led peace talks in Switzerland, while Tehran announced it had again closed the Strait of Hormuz.
The Straits Times also said the June 21 talks would not cover substantive issues such as Iran’s nuclear programme, because Iran argued the US had failed to meet its commitment to halt fighting in Lebanon.
Strait closure and next phase
The Guardian said the memorandum signed by Trump last week included a non-aggression pact, while Trump wrote on social media, “If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again.”
“President Donald Trump has issued a stark warning to Iran regarding its proxies in Lebanon, even as Vice President JD Vance leads peace talks with Iranian negotiators in Switzerland”
The Straits Times reported that the memorandum calls for the strait to be reopened and a halt to all hostilities, including in Lebanon, and that Iran said the June 21 talks would not cover substantive issues such as Iran’s nuclear programme.
SMH.au reported that commercially available shipping data showed an immediate impact after Iran’s announcement, with only a single small tanker crossing the waterway compared with dozens of ships in recent days when traffic had begun returning to pre-war levels.
The Guardian said the practical impact of the Iranian decision to keep the strait closed is yet to be tested, but Trump said last week that the world was four weeks from running out of sufficient refined oil.
Reuters’ account in The Guardian also said the US energy secretary Chris Wright claimed that 67 ships had transited the waterway on Saturday, on top of 55 ships on Friday, as the talks entered a period intended to secure a lasting peace deal.
