US and Iran enter high-stakes Switzerland talks amid renewed Hormuz threat and Lebanon fighting

US Vice President JD Vance landed Sunday in Switzerland to help formally launch negotiations with Iranian leaders over curbing Tehran's nuclear program and building out the fragile interim deal to end the war in Iran.

Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, arrived at Emmen Air Base outside Lucerne at just before 6am local time, according to his office.

Vance joins special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, who have already been on the ground to begin sifting through the technical details of the nuclear talks.

The talks between US and Iran will also include Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, as well as Qatari mediators.

While Vance said he planned to be in Switzerland for just "a day or two," leaving much of the detailed negotiations to be spearheaded by Witkoff and Kushner, his role in the talks has heightened the scrutiny of the vice president at a time when he's actively considering a 2028 presidential campaign.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that Iran does not exercise control over the Strait of Hormuz, even as tensions remain high in the region after heightened military developments linked to Israeli strikes in Lebanon, following which the Islamic Republic announced the closure of the strategic waterway.

According to remarks shared by a CENTCOM spokesperson with Al Jazeera Arabic, Iran does not control the strategic waterway, which is one of the world's most critical maritime chokepoints for global energy supplies.

The spokesperson further stated that US forces are closely monitoring the situation in the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the continued and uninterrupted flow of maritime traffic through the region.

The Central Command also emphasised that maintaining safe navigation and protecting commercial shipping remain its primary objectives in the area.

Iranian Parliament Speaker MB Ghalibaf invoked the memory of victims of the Minab school incident ahead of technical talks with the United States in Switzerland, saying their sacrifice would guide the actions of the Islamic Republic during the negotiations with Washington as part of the 14-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) reached between the two sides to end the hostilities in West Asia.

In a post on X, Ghalibaf said he, along with the Iranian delegation, carried the memory of the children of Minab and other Iranian martyrs with them as they prepared for the talks.

"I consider the innocent children of Minab and all the martyrs of dear Iran to be watching over my every action and behaviour at every moment. They see us and expect things of us. God forbid that I should ever bring shame to the innocent martyrs and the people of Iran," Ghalibaf wrote, adding the hashtag "Minab168" and dedicating the message to the memory of the children of Minab School.

An Iranian delegation landed in Switzerland late Saturday ahead of talks at the Burgenstock resort on the preliminary US-Iran deal to halt the Middle East war, said Bern.

"We welcome the arrival of the Iranian delegation in Switzerland," the Swiss foreign ministry said on X, adding that the talks were part of the implementation of the memorandum of understanding signed with the United States.

Iran's official news agency IRNA also said Tehran's delegation had arrived in Switzerland ahead of the talks.

US Vice President JD Vance took off for Switzerland for talks with Iran on implementing a deal to end the Middle East war, saying negotiators would discuss the Islamic republic's nuclear program and the Lebanon ceasefire.

"I think we're going to hopefully make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue. Those are the two big things that I think we're to be focused on," Vance told reporters before departing from Joint Base Andrews, saying he could only join the talks "for a day or two."

Vance said the situation in Lebanon was "actually getting better."

"It's going to be something we're just going to have to continuously manage to ensure that... Israel and Lebanon are both safe and secure," he said.

"The big problem is that you have somebody will shoot and then somebody will respond, and you kind of have a chicken and egg problem where you've just got to stop the shooting for long enough to get the ceasefire to keep hold."

US negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were already in Switzerland handling technical elements of the talks, Vance said earlier.

A new round of negotiations over the Middle East war is set to kick off today, with Iranian negotiators arriving in the Swiss host city hours ahead of US Vice President JD Vance, even as Tehran said it was closing the Strait of Hormuz again over Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

Before boarding his flight to Europe, Vance told reporters he hoped to "make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue. Those are the two big things that I think we're going to be focused on".

Follow-up talks had been planned in Switzerland on Friday but were postponed at the last minute after Israel launched deadly strikes in Lebanon following the deaths of four of its soldiers in combat.

Washington announced a renewed ceasefire there later Friday - a condition of its preliminary agreement with Iran - but Israeli troops clashed again with Hezbollah fighters on Saturday, with each side accusing the other of breaking the truce.

Citing a US "breach of contract" and "the Zionist regime's continuous and relentless violation of the ceasefire in southern Lebanon", Iran's central military command said "the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to vessel traffic."

Hormuz, a key conduit for oil and gas shipments, was blockaded by Iran for much of the war, sending shockwaves through global energy markets.

Tehran had agreed to reopen it under the preliminary accord signed by President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian, and shipping traffic had begun to recover.

US Central Command said after Iran's announcement that safe passage through the international waterway had "remained intact" and that US forces were "present and vigilant".

Trump later warned that Washington could impose its own tolls on Hormuz if negotiators failed to complete the deal.

There would be no tolls "unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America", Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Switzerland push

An Iranian delegation arrived in Switzerland late Saturday, state media and the Swiss foreign ministry said.

Iran's official broadcaster said it included parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the delegation would "demand implementation of the other party's commitments" under the deal.

"Otherwise, the entire understanding will be in trouble," he said, according to official news agency IRNA.

Vance left Washington on an afternoon flight to join the talks, saying he could only stay "a day or two."

US negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were already there handling "some of the technical elements" and had reported that "things are going well," Vance said in an interview with Fox News earlier Saturday.

Mediator Pakistan - whose interior minister was reportedly in Iran on Saturday for meetings with officials - said "technical-level talks" were scheduled for Sunday in Burgenstock, Switzerland, with Pakistani and Qatari mediators joining US and Iranian representatives.

The talks are meant to open a two-month negotiation period on issues left unresolved by the initial accord, notably Iran's nuclear programme.

Lebanon truce frays

Israel and Hezbollah continued trading accusations Saturday as fighting persisted in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said one soldier was killed in combat, the fifth such fatality since the US-Iran deal was reached.

An Israeli army official later said the military had received orders from the country's political leadership to cease fire, adding that troops were "not conducting proactive strikes" but operating defensively inside a security zone.

Earlier, an Israeli military official said fresh attacks were under way after Hezbollah "launched more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon" overnight.

Hezbollah accused Israel of carrying out "under the cover of the ceasefire...an infiltration attempt towards the Ali Taher hills", a strategic feature overlooking Nabatieh, and said its fighters had responded "with appropriate weapons".

Lebanese state media reported Israeli air raids on around 20 locations, with authorities counting more than 30 dead. The overall death toll from the fighting in Lebanon had surpassed 4,000, the health ministry said.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said his group retained "the full right to confront this enemy when it attacks us".

Israel's US ambassador Yechiel Leiter maintained it was Hezbollah that broke the truce, saying Israel was "defending itself against terrorist attacks".

But Hezbollah said Israel bore "full responsibility".

Fadi Zayat, who fled the southern Lebanon town of Tayr Debba, told AFP that "fear dominates" the south.

"We returned to the village a few days ago, but our bags are ready to flee again," the 53-year-old said.

Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the wider Middle East conflict in early March when it fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.

A previous ceasefire meant to take effect in Lebanon in April was never honoured, with each side justifying its attacks by citing alleged violations by the other.

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