Vance Heads to Switzerland for Iran Talks on Nuclear File and Lebanon Ceasefire

U.S. Vice President JD Vance flew overnight, between Saturday and Sunday, to Switzerland for talks with Iranian representatives on Iran’s nuclear program and the situation in Lebanon. Before departure, Vance said he would be there for two days and expressed hope for progress on both issues, saying, “I hope we see progress in the nuclear file and in the ceasefire issue in Lebanon, the two things we need to focus on.”

According to the report, Iran’s foreign minister and the speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, were already in Switzerland and would take part in the meetings. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said overnight that Tehran expects the United States to work to stop Israeli strikes in Lebanon. “Iran sees this as part of the existing understandings,” he said. “Failure to implement the commitments will endanger the understanding.”

In Israel, a senior political source said late Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reiterated that “Israel will remain in the security strip as long as necessary to defend its northern border.” The source said Netanyahu instructed the Israel Defense Forces to respond forcefully to any Hezbollah attack and to eliminate threats to Israeli forces. The same official said that in response to Hezbollah attacks over the previous two days, the IDF had struck 300 terror targets and killed about 100 militants, and warned that if Hezbollah attacks again, Israel will hit back hard.

The report also noted that IDF troops had objected to orders to hold fire in southern Lebanon, saying their hands had been tied even though they were near an important Hezbollah command site in the Litani area. Separately, Vance said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his team were actively managing the Lebanon situation, and claimed that despite headlines, conditions there were improving and the escalation was easing somewhat. He said the goal was to keep both Israel and Lebanon safe, and that the key challenge was to stop the back-and-forth fire long enough for the ceasefire to hold.