(National Times)- Switzerland said talks between the United States and Iran on a pact to end the Middle East conflict would not take place on Friday, as US Vice President JD Vance dropped plans to travel to Geneva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The talks were set to take place under the \u2018Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding\u2019 signed<\/u><\/a> between the US and Iran a day ago, after the two sides agreed<\/a> on a 14-point accord<\/u><\/a> on Monday. Under the deal, Washington and Tehran have agreed on a framework to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> and negotiate on key issues within 60 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The talks, set for the mountaintop resort of Burgenstock, would not take place, Switzerland\u2019s foreign ministry confirmed, but gave no details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe planned talks between the US, Iran, Qatar and Pakistan have been postponed,\u201d the Swiss foreign ministry said in a message to AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSwitzerland remains ready to facilitate these talks. The relevant preparatory work at Burgenstock is continuing,\u201d it added, without providing a new date for the talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Washington, a White House spokesperson said<\/a>, \u201cThe logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable. As of now, the vice president is not departing tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the official added, \u201cWe look forward to beginning technical talks as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no immediate response from Iran, which had earlier said it was ready to begin technical talks after Thursday\u2019s 14-point accord<\/a> extended<\/a> a tenuous ceasefire by at least 60 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Iran\u2019s negotiators first needed to see signs of the US implementing the interim deal, and there was no confirmation its delegation would travel to Geneva, the semi-official Tasnim<\/em> news agency said before Vance\u2019s Thursday announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vance and the US delegation had been ready to depart as soon as plans were finalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Thursday, the US vice president had hinted at<\/a> plans being unconfirmed, saying: \u201cWe think these technical negotiations are going to start sometime this weekend. That\u2019s still the plan, but that could change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n US and Iran, along with mediators Pakistan and Qatar and other involved countries, were set to meet at \u201cBuergenstock for initial negotiations about implementing the agreement\u201d, according<\/a> to the Swiss foreign ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An official signing ceremony of the Islamabad MoU had also been in the works previously, with Geneva as the planned venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who signed the Islamabad MoU as the mediator, had said earlier this week that the ceremony would be held in Geneva<\/a> and be hosted by Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the premier\u2019s plans to travel to Geneva were cancelled on Thursday, with Deputy PM Ishaq Dar giving the reason<\/a> that the signing had been \u201ccompleted remotely\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n US officials had also said they would hold a formal signing ceremony in Switzerland, but Iran\u2019s foreign ministry had cast doubt on the plan, calling it unnecessary after both countries\u2019 presidents signed the pact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The war<\/a>, which began on February 28 with US and Israeli air attacks<\/a> on Iran, has killed at least 7,000 people, sent energy prices soaring and shaken global markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout the conflict, Pakistan has remained actively involved in mediating for peace. It brokered a ceasefire between the US and Iran on April 8 and also hosted historic direct talks<\/a> between the two in Islamabad that month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel, left out of the peace talks, has distanced itself from the US-Iran accord and kept up its attacks<\/a> on Lebanon that it insists are targeted at Hezbollah, also raising questions about whether the agreement would hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fresh Israeli strikes on Friday in Lebanon, where more than a million people have been displaced by the fighting, killed at least 15, the state news agency NNA<\/em> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That raised doubt about how far Trump will go to force his wartime ally to halt an offensive he has now pledged to end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The deal calls for \u201cpermanent termination\u201d of the war in Lebanon, but Israel has said it has no intention of withdrawing, instead depicting an expanded occupation zone in a new map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump has become openly critical of Israel\u2019s operations in Lebanon, opening one of the biggest rifts between the two countries in decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Friday, Iran\u2019s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that Tehran would give a \u201cdecisive\u201d response if the agreement was breached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Washington, some of US President Donald Trump\u2019s Republican allies in Congress questioned whether he had conceded too much in order to end the conflict, unpopular with most Americans in the run-up to mid-term elections in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump had sworn to end the war only with Iran\u2019s \u201cUNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the memorandum signed with Iran instead provides relief from economic sanctions, unfreezes assets worth tens of billions of dollars and immediate US waivers for its exports of oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said Trump had signed the deal \u201cout of desperation\u201d and signalled that approaching talks over Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions, among Trump\u2019s stated reasons for starting the war, would not be easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf the American side wants to be too demanding, we will not accept it,\u201d he said in a message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The deal gives negotiators 60 days to agree on the status of Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, unless an extension is agreed, and set up a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran and other financial incentives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vance said Washington would also seek to limit Iran\u2019s long-range missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The growing cost of the war also drew the spotlight, as the US defence department told lawmakers it needed $80 billion to cover the costs and some unrelated bills, the Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the US and Israel launched the war nearly four months ago, Trump said he aimed to destroy Iran\u2019s nuclear capabilities to ensure it could never develop such weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tehran has repeatedly denied that it aims to develop nuclear weapons, stating that its nuclear programme is only for civilian purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump also sought to end Tehran\u2019s ability to strike its neighbours and prevent it from backing anti-Israel groups in the region, and at times called for regime change<\/a> in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n None of those objectives had been met when Trump signed the agreement, in which Iran restated its decades-long assertion not to get or develop nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also agreed to the onsite \u201cdown blending\u201d of its highly enriched uranium stockpile and inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) member, rejecting Trump\u2019s wish to remove the material from the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a>Israel continues Lebanon attacks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Prospects of further talks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n