Talks with Iranian officials set good foundation for a deal to end the war, says JD Vance

Vice President JD Vance on Monday said his lengthy talks with senior Iranian officials in Switzerland created a “good foundation for a successful final deal” as they seek a permanent end to the war that the US and Israel began in late February.

“The final deal is the house,” Vance told reporters after initial talks with Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. “We set the foundation. We haven't built the house, but we've laid a successful foundation to get to a good place for the American people.” Vance and US officials claimed progress on multiple fronts, including the establishment of “mechanisms” to ensure the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global energy shipments, stays open and that a ceasefire holds in the fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah and Israel went to war shortly after the outbreak of the wider conflict, with Hezbollah firing rockets and drones at civilian communities in northern Israel and Israel seizing large swaths of southern Lebanon. Iran has insisted that addressing the fighting in Lebanon is a critical component of any deal to end the wider conflict.

Iran noted “major progress” to end the fighting in Lebanon and called that the first real test of the negotiations. In other developments, the US Treasury issued a 60-day license waiving sanctions on Iranian oil as part of the interim agreement to end the war. Notably, the license allows Iranian oil to be imported into the US, which has not imported significant amounts of Iranian oil since the 1990s.