US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi were both on their way to Switzerland, Axios reported Friday, after a Lebanon ceasefire gave a fresh push to efforts to turn an interim Iran war pact into a lasting deal.
Witkoff was set to join Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who was already in the country. Aragchi was expected to arrive Saturday. The White House did not answer questions about Witkoff’s trip.
How the truce came together
Israel and Hezbollah agreed to stop shooting on Friday after a spell of heavy fighting that had put the US-Iran talks in doubt. A senior US official said the truce began around 4 pm (1300 GMT), after one more exchange of fire. Negotiators for the United States and Qatar built the agreement with help from Iran, the official said.
Two Hezbollah sources and a senior Israeli official confirmed it to Reuters. The Israeli official put it this way: “If Hezbollah does not attack us, then for us it is not a time of war.” Israeli forces will stay in the part of southern Lebanon they occupy along the northern border.
Two Lebanese security sources counted a dozen Israeli airstrikes in the first hour of the truce and none after 5 pm. Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes since midnight had killed 47 people and wounded 97. The Israeli military said four of its soldiers died in an incident in Lebanon and gave no details.
What the Swiss talks are for
On Wednesday the two sides signed a 14-point memorandum that opened a 60-day window to settle disputes over Iran’s nuclear programme and other issues. Preparations for technical talks at the Buergenstock resort were well advanced when the White House said on Thursday that Vice President JD Vance would not attend. Switzerland’s foreign ministry said the talks were postponed but that it stood ready to host them.
The deal requires the US, Iran and their allies to declare an immediate and permanent end to military operations on all fronts, Lebanon included. Israel, which was left out of the talks, says it is not a party. In a call with his Pakistani counterpart, Aragchi said Washington would be responsible for any breach of its commitments, the ministry reported.
The memorandum promises Iran relief from economic sanctions, the unfreezing of assets worth tens of billions of dollars and immediate US waivers for its oil exports. It also sets up a $300-billion reconstruction fund for Iran.
Oil, and the politics at home
Brent crude edged higher Friday but was headed for a weekly fall of about 8 percent. Oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz picked up after the signing, and the body Iran created to manage the strait said it would waive planned fees while negotiations run. Before the war, nearly a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas passed through it.
Trump defended the deal against critics in Washington, some of them Republican allies in Congress. “The War has diminished Iran!” he wrote on social media. “We didn’t meet out of desperation, Iran did. They are FINISHED! We’ll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not 10 cents!”
The war, which began February 28 with US and Israeli air attacks on Iran, has killed at least 7,000 people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun discussed a new round of Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington, from June 23 to June 25.
Sources
- Trump envoy Witkoff, Iran's Abbas Aragchi on way to Switzerland for peace talks
- Trump envoy, Iranian minister head to Switzerland for talks
- Trump envoy, Iranian minister head to Switzerland for talks
