Vice President JD Vance voiced optimism that talks with Iran would begin on Sunday in Switzerland, but that the situation was “in flux.”
Talks were first scheduled to begin on Friday, but Iran’s delegation delayed their flight amid the outbreak of fighting in Lebanon. After Iran’s foreign ministry confirmed the delegation departed Iran on Saturday, Vance said talks would likely begin on Sunday, though with caveats.
“That may happen as soon as [Sunday], but these things are always a little bit in flux. Jared [Kushner] and Steve [Witkoff] have been on the ground now for a few hours dealing with some of the technical elements of this negotiation,” he told Fox & Friends.
“As you guys know, one of the things the president has set us out to do as a high priority is to open the straits that’s now happened,” Vance continued. “We actually got 16 million barrels of oil out of the Straits of Hormuz yesterday. That is a record going back to even before the conflict started. So you’re seeing those ships move.”
At the same time as the interview, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz again, arguing it was due to the “bad faith” of the U.S. and “its clear breach of its commitments” by failing to end the war in Lebanon.
Vance said that “things were going well” with negotiations so far, based on his conversations with Kushner and Witkoff. He said that he expected to leave to join the negotiations “sometime the next couple of days,” but was uncertain of the exact timeline due to the “delicate coordination dance and the diplomatic protocols.”
“I got to be honest with you — I don’t really understand these things. I’ve never been a particularly into diplomatic protocols,” Vance said.
IRAN SAYS IT CLOSED THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ AGAIN AS DIPLOMATIC TEAM HEADS TO SWITZERLAND
“My attitude is, let’s get on the ground and actually fix these problems, but they want to do a delicate dance, the Qataris and the Pakistanis want to make sure that we do this in the right way. So I’m trying to be respectful given my position of the last year and a half, I have to care about diplomatic protocols all of a sudden,” he joked.
Fighting in Lebanon continues to be the greatest point of friction in negotiations, and the most likely place that could derail the MOU. Israel wasn’t a party to negotiations, but the U.S. vowed to pressure the country to stop its war against Hezbollah as part of the deal. Israel has reacted with outrage and continued to exchange fire with Hezbollah, despite a renewed ceasefire on Friday.