A Reuters report in The Wall Street Journal says President Donald Trump’s threat against Iran during nuclear-style talks in Switzerland on Sunday jolted the negotiations and triggered a sharp confrontation between the two sides. According to the report, Trump warned on Fox News shortly after the delegations met at the Swiss resort, saying, “If you close the Strait of Hormuz, you will not have a country,” and adding directly to the Iranian team, “You will not even survive the trip back to your country.”
The Iranian delegation was led by Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who did not learn of the remarks immediately because he had left his phone outside the negotiating room. When an aide briefed him, Qalibaf rebuked U.S. Vice President JD Vance, saying the threat violated the opening clause of a memorandum of understanding signed only days earlier. That document reportedly included a mutual pledge by the United States and Iran not to attack or threaten one another.
After the tense exchange, the Iranian team stopped the direct talks. Qalibaf later described the episode in an interview with Iranian television on Tuesday, saying, “I told Vance: Today your president issued a threat. Understand that we will never negotiate under threats or pressure.” He added that “the American side requested another meeting through mediators, but we refused.”
People familiar with the events said the account matched what Qalibaf described. An American official said Vance told the Iranians before they left that Trump meant the United States would respond if Tehran violated the deal. The official said Vance had actually pushed for a pause in the talks to give Iran time to consider the proposals, not because of Trump’s post, and later defended Trump as responding to Iranian “dirty talk” in order to “sort things out.”
