By Benoit Faucon
BÜRGENSTOCK, Switzerland -- The continuing war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah is threatening to disrupt U.S. negotiators' plans to focus on Iran's nuclear program, as new talks get under way Sunday in Switzerland.
The deal signed Wednesday to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and set up talks on Iran's nuclear program calls for an end to the fighting in Lebanon -- a key Iranian demand -- in its opening paragraph. But flare-ups over the past two days led Iran to announce it had closed the strategic waterway and to say it would focus on resolving the Lebanese situation in the talks.
In a sign of the high stakes, Vice President JD Vance was leading the talks for the U.S. with Iran's chief negotiator, parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, leading the team from Tehran. The two sides were meeting separately with mediators Qatar and Pakistan at the Alpine resort of Bürgenstock, before expected direct talks later in the day.
"The Israeli regime continues to violate its commitments," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Sunday, arguing that the U.S. had been unable or unwilling to rein in its ally. "This issue is the main subject of today's talks."
Israel says it is responding to attacks by Hezbollah.
The venue was guarded by a heavy security detail. Visitors were greeted by security forces in flak jackets, some in military camouflage and others toting submachine guns, scattered amid a landscape of green pastures, wooden chalets and snowy peaks. The entrance of the luxurious hotel hosting the negotiations was protected by concrete blocks and metal barricades.
Both sides are under pressure to end the fighting between U.S. ally Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese faction Hezbollah, neither of which are party to the talks.
Last week saw one of the most serious escalations in Lebanon since a ceasefire was reached in April. The fighting had never stopped for long despite the truce, as Israel continued to hold territory in southern Lebanon and the two sides repeatedly clashed. The front was relatively quiet early Sunday.
In response to the latest escalation, Iranian security officials on Saturday said they had closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz. It was still shut Sunday, according to Iran's military-affiliated Fars news agency. The U.S. military said the strait remained open and that it would monitor the situation to make sure it didn't change.
Iran also moved late in the week to set up new procedures for navigating Hormuz, where wartime blockades unsettled a fifth of the world's oil supply.
The issues of Hormuz and Lebanon were supposed to be resolved in the memorandum of understanding signed Wednesday. The U.S. agreed to drop its blockade of Iranian ports, and Tehran pledged to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, in a deal that aimed to be a prelude to 60 days of talks to resolve the longstanding, complex dispute over Iran's nuclear program.
Iran postponed plans to send its diplomatic team to the talks Friday, after Israel carried out a round of heavy strikes in retaliation for a Hezbollah drone attack that killed four Israeli soldiers. But Tehran agreed to attend the negotiations late Saturday after announcing they would focus on ending the fighting in Lebanon.
Upon boarding his flight to Switzerland late Saturday, Vance confirmed a key focus would be to make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire.
Vance said he also hoped to make progress on the nuclear issue. The U.S. and Iran have been preparing to discuss what to do with Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium, which Washington suspects could be used to develop a nuclear weapon.
The Trump administration wants Tehran to destroy or turn over its stockpile and suspend future enrichment. Iran has expressed openness to "downblending" the uranium to lower levels of enrichment inside the country and stop enrichment activities for about a decade. The U.S. wants it to stop for 20 years.
In exchange for concessions, the U.S. is offering extensive sanctions relief. It opened the door to Iranian oil sales and is working on ways to release billions of dollars in frozen Iranian cash as upfront incentives to open the strait and keep Iran at the table.
Still, Lebanon is at the heart of tensions over the deal, in Israel, the U.S. and in Iran.
Israel considers the fight against Hezbollah to be a vital national-security issue. Top Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have said their country won't back down and will continue to hold territory in Lebanon until Hezbollah is vanquished.
The Trump administration has vacillated in its messaging to Israel, sometimes criticizing Israel in tough terms last week for what it called excessive use of force but other times supporting its right to address security threats.
Trump is coming under pressure at home from Iran hawks like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.).
"As we pursue diplomacy, make it crystal clear that Israel will not have to tolerate being attacked by Iranian proxies who cause parts of Israel to be uninhabitable," Graham said Friday on social media.
Iran's negotiators, too, have been told by their leadership to make the issue a priority.
New Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on social media he had been originally opposed to the deal and only relented when he got guarantees that the interests of Iran's Middle East allies would be protected.
