Qatar and Pakistan, acting as mediators in talks between the United States and Iran, said early Monday that the first day of negotiations in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, produced agreement on a political framework and a roadmap toward a final deal within 60 days. The two mediators said the sides agreed to create a high-level committee for political oversight and a “deconfliction cell” in Lebanon, aimed at ensuring compliance with ending military operations there.
Israel and Hezbollah were not mentioned in the joint statement and were not part of the talks. The discussions are set to continue through the rest of the week. The mediators said there had been encouraging progress. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Lebanon deconfliction mechanism would be the first real test, and said the understandings reached would exempt Iranian oil and petrochemical exports, lift the blockade, release some frozen assets and launch a reconstruction development program.
Iranian media said late Sunday that the talks were briefly suspended after what it described as threatening remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump. Fars and Tasnim reported that the Iranian delegation even left the venue in protest, while PressTV said a formal protest was lodged with the Americans. The United States denied that the delegation walked out, saying the talks continued despite the pause and then resumed and ended early Monday morning.
An American diplomat involved in the talks said the parties discussed “all elements of the nuclear agreement” and the Strait of Hormuz, but those issues did not appear in the mediators’ official statement. The diplomat said Washington wants to ensure the strait remains fully open and that good progress was made. Trump, speaking to Fox News and on Truth Social, demanded that Iran stop its proxies in Lebanon and said that if no agreement is reached, the U.S. could seize the Strait of Hormuz, impose tariffs, and “blow them to pieces.” Iranian officials responded sharply, with parliamentary national security spokesman Ebrahim Rezaei calling the threats “empty” and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf saying Iran’s armed forces were ready to respond.
