Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that "the rules have changed" just hours before direct talks between the United States and Iran opened in Switzerland. He said Washington previously demanded that Iran’s missile program be part of the negotiations, but now accepts that "Iran, like other countries, must have ballistic missiles." Pezeshkian also said Iran agreed not to possess nuclear weapons at the request of the United States, and accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the CIA of trying to undermine internal unity in Iran.
The talks began in the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock, with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance arriving early in the morning and the Iranian delegation, led by parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, arriving the night before. According to the Swiss Foreign Ministry, the site was heavily secured and surrounded by security barriers. The two main issues on the table are Iran’s nuclear program and the fighting in Lebanon, and Vance said before leaving the United States that he hoped to make progress on both over "some days of talks."
A Financial Times report said mediators were already focusing at the start of the talks on a mechanism to monitor violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon, making that issue central alongside the nuclear file. The discussions come after months of failed contacts and mediation attempts, including a mid-April face-to-face meeting between Vance and Ghalibaf and 21 hours of talks in Pakistan that ended without an agreement.
The renewed diplomacy is unfolding amid sharp disputes over Tehran’s claim that the United States failed to honor its commitments by not stopping continued Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon. Lebanon’s health ministry says more than 4,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks there since March 2. At the same time, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards announced on Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz was closed in response to the strikes, warning ships approaching the area could be in danger, but the U.S. military said maritime traffic continued and commercial vessels were still operating.
The latest meeting had originally been planned as a signing ceremony for a memorandum of understanding, but after the document was signed electronically, the gathering was postponed and then turned into a direct negotiating round. The sides are now trying to turn the ceasefire and interim understandings, brokered by Pakistan and signed Wednesday by Donald Trump and Pezeshkian, into a more durable settlement.
