US-Iran peace talks to begin at Swiss resort

Peace talks led by U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Iranian chief negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf were set to begin on Sunday morning at a Swiss mountaintop resort as both nations seek a durable end to their war while disagreeing over Iran's claim that it had closed the vital Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. and Iran had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire for the negotiations, but Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday declared the Strait of Hormuz shut in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon, although the U.S. military said commercial vessels kept operating.
Those developments could complicate the talks in which both sides want to advance an interim deal brokered by Pakistan and signed on Wednesday by Presidents Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian to end an almost four-month-long war.
Vance arrived at the scenic Buergenstock resort, accessed by a narrow road snaking through leafy hills and several security checkpoints manned by armed guards, after landing at Emmen Air Base early on Sunday, accompanied by second lady Usha Vance.
The talks, including mediators, were to start "during the course of the morning," Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
"I ⁠think we're going to hopefully make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue," with a "couple days of talks" likely, Vance told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before departing.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards, accusing Israel of "crimes" in Lebanon that violated U.S. commitments to the ceasefire, warned ships would be at risk if they approached the strait, which carried a fifth of global oil supplies before the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on February 28.
Despite the Lebanon truce, Israeli forces and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah attacked each other on Saturday.

-Reuters