Efforts to move forward with a recently signed agreement intended to end hostilities in the Middle East encountered a setback on Friday after Switzerland confirmed the postponement of follow-up talks meant to assist the implementation of the accord.
The announcement came only hours after the scheduled visit of United States Vice President JD Vance to Switzerland was cancelled, fuelling renewed uncertainty about the next stage of diplomatic engagements connected to the agreement.
The accord, signed earlier this week, was intended to end the conflict involving Iran, enable the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and begin a 60-day negotiation process addressing wider regional matters, including Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Under the terms of the arrangement, fighting in Lebanon was also expected to come to an end.
However, doubts about the durability of the agreement surfaced on Friday after the Israeli military reported fresh attacks on Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon.
“The planned talks between the US, Iran, Qatar and Pakistan have been postponed,” the Swiss foreign ministry said in a message to AFP.
“Switzerland remains ready to facilitate these talks. The relevant preparatory work at Burgenstock is continuing,” it added, without announcing a new date for the discussions.
The development followed a White House announcement late Thursday that Vance’s trip had been cancelled, with a spokesperson stating that the “logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable.”
“We look forward to beginning technical talks as soon as possible.”
In Iran, the Tasnim news agency reported that “nothing has been confirmed” regarding the Iranian delegation’s proposed visit to Switzerland.
The agreement was signed separately by US President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said on Thursday that he had endorsed the accord despite reservations, as the United States simultaneously lifted a blockade on Iranian ports.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who assumed power after his father and longtime ruler Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the opening day of the war on February 28, said in a written statement that he held a “different view” regarding the agreement, without providing further details.
“But I issued my permission due to the commitment” made by officials including Pezeshkian to “protect the rights of the Iranian nation”.
“Face-to-face negotiations” with the United States will be held in the future, but that does not “mean accepting the enemy’s point of view”, he added.
On Friday, Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf cautioned that Tehran would deliver a “decisive” response if the agreement was violated.
American forces on Thursday ended their naval blockade of Iranian ports, which had prevented vessels from entering or leaving the Islamic republic, the US military said, adding that American warships “will remain in the general area”.
Movement remained limited in the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic passage for global energy shipments that Iran had blockaded during the conflict.
Three Saudi oil tankers exited the Gulf through the strait on Thursday, according to maritime tracking data, alongside a French vessel carrying liquefied natural gas.
Iranian state television, citing a statement from the country’s Supreme National Security Council, reported that ships “seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz must submit their request” to a newly established government body responsible for supervising the waterway.
In line with the provisions of the agreement, it added, “no fees whatsoever will be collected from applicants for a period of sixty days”.
The accord seeks to formally end the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, which involved five weeks of full-scale warfare before a ceasefire was reached in early April.
