U.S. Vice President JD Vance (L), Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (C), and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani speak ahead of talks between the United States and Iran at the Buergenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, Switzerland, on Sunday. Photo by Urs Flueeler/EPA
June 21 (UPI) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance said the United States is looking “to transform our relationship” with Iran but warned Sunday’s renewed talks in Switzerland wouldn’t bring about an immediate resolution to the war.
Vance was joined by President Donald Trump‘s go-to negotiators in the peace talks — Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — in the gathering at the Bürgenstock lakeside resort, CNN reported. Pakistani and Qatari mediators were also in attendance, The New York Times reported.
“Never before has the Iranian and American leadership met at such a high level,” Vance told reporters ahead of the talks.
“What the president has asked us to do is turn over a new leaf to transform our relationship with the people of Iran, and to extend an outstretched hand that says to the people of Iran that if your leadership is willing to give up being a driver of regional instability, if they are willing to give up nuclear weapons ambitions for the long term, then the United States is willing to fundamentally transform our relationship with that country,” he said.
“We’ve already made great progress over just the last few hours, and I expect that we will make additional progress in the hours to come.”
Sunday’s gathering in Switzerland is the latest in a series of negotiations between the two countries — and mediators — to attempt to bring an end to a war that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
Trump signed a peace agreement with Iran on Wednesday while he was in France for the G7 Summit. The 14-point pact included the immediate cessation of fighting by all sides — including in Lebanon — plans to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and an easing of financial restrictions on Iran.
Iran, however, said it closed the strait again Saturday, accusing Israel of launching a fresh round of strikes on Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group in Lebanon. The strikes killed at least 22 people.
Though the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has been central to a peace agreement between the United States and Iran, neither of the parties were involved in Sunday’s talks in Switzerland.