A heated exchange broke out on Sunday at the Burgenstock resort in Switzerland shortly after direct U.S.-Iran talks began, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Minutes after Donald Trump threatened in a Fox News interview to resume war, he posted new warnings on his Truth Social account, surprising the Iranian side and, according to several intermediaries, leading some to consult psychologists to better understand his state of mind.
The report says Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator, initially did not know about the post because he had left his cellphone outside the meeting room. After being briefed by an aide, he confronted U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who headed the American negotiating team. Qalibaf told Vance calmly that the threats violated the opening clause of a memorandum of understanding Trump had signed days earlier in Versailles, which bound both sides not to attack or threaten each other. Iranian negotiators then ended the face-to-face talks. In a Tuesday interview with Iranian state television, Qalibaf said, “I told Vance that ‘today your president issued threats. Understand that we never negotiate under threats or pressure,’” and said the Americans later sought another meeting through intermediaries, which Tehran refused.
In Trump’s post, he demanded that Iran immediately stop its “well funded proxies” in Lebanon, Hezbollah, from “making trouble,” warning that otherwise the United States would “hit Iran hard again, just like we did last week, only harder.” A U.S. official familiar with the talks said Vance told the Iranians Trump meant Washington would respond if Tehran breached the agreement, and that the vice president had sought a pause to let Iran consider the proposals, not because of the post. Vance later defended Trump, saying he was responding to Iranian “trash talk.”
The Journal said mediators had repeatedly warned Washington during the prolonged talks that Trump’s social-media messages could damage efforts to reach a deal. They also tried to steer Iran to focus on what U.S. representatives said privately rather than Trump’s public comments. After the face-to-face session ended, Qalibaf’s delegation left the negotiating site and returned to their hotel, while indirect talks continued through Pakistani and Qatari mediators.
Iranian diplomats said Trump’s unusual style pushed them to reread his 1987 book, “The Art of the Deal,” which encourages extreme, unexpected demands to unsettle opponents. Several mediators said Iranian negotiators even worked with psychologists to help predict Trump’s public reaction to their proposals, though one person familiar with Iran’s Swiss negotiating policy said no psychologists were actually on the team and that Tehran prefers not to speculate about Trump’s motives. The article says the eventual Swiss agreement included a U.S. commitment to allow Iranian oil sales in dollars, while a separate dispute remained over whether to mention the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors Iran’s nuclear program. Officials and intermediaries said Trump’s posts made it harder for pragmatists in Tehran to convince hardliners that the United States could be trusted.
