The United States and Iran on the 21st (local time) entered follow-up talks in Switzerland to implement a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to end the conflict. It is the first time in 70 days that the two countries have sat across the negotiating table since the end-of-conflict talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, in April concluded without results.
According to foreign media, delegations led respectively by U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf began talks in the morning at the Bürgenstock resort near Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. Delegations from Qatar and Pakistan, the mediators, also took part.
On the day, Qatar's Foreign Ministry said that alongside the Lucerne talks, the first meeting of a high-level consultative body involving the United States, Iran, Qatar and Pakistan had begun. It also said a technical experts working group to discuss a final agreement and a follow-up action group to review MOU implementation had been formed.
Ahead of the talks, Vice President Vance called the meeting historic and said the Middle East stands at a crossroads between moving into a new phase or returning to past confrontations. He emphasized that even if the talks do not resolve all differences at once, they could serve as a starting point for both sides to directly confirm their core demands.
The main agenda items are how to handle Iran's nuclear program going forward, U.S. easing of sanctions on Iran, allowing crude oil exports, and unfreezing asset issues. The Lebanon issue was also included. Iran has argued that Israel's airstrikes in Lebanon run counter to the intent of the MOU, while the United States has said there has been recent progress in maintaining a Lebanon cease-fire.
The two countries aim to reach a final agreement within 60 days and have it approved by a U.N. Security Council resolution. The United States sees the negotiation clock as having started on the 18th, the day after the presidents of both countries signed the MOU, making Aug. 16 the final deadline for talks.