Vice President JD Vance said Monday peace talks with Iran created a “good foundation for a successful final deal” to end the war that began at the end of February.
Vance’s comments came after he and Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrapped up a lengthy round of initial talks aimed at solidifying a permanent end to the war between the countries.
Also, President Donald Trump on Saturday lashed out at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia
Meloni, insisting she asked “over and over” for a photo with him at the recent Group of Seven summit and criticizing what he said was Italy’s lack of cooperation during the Iran war. The remarks deepen the spat that began this week, which ultimately led Italy’s foreign minister to cancel a planned trip to the United States.
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Vance also said the U.S. was not imposing the deal on the region, even though the negotiations include provisions about the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, without representatives from Israel or Lebanon.
“This is a deal that the region has desperately asked the United States to put in place,” Vance said. “This region has been a basket case for a very long time.”
Vance touted that Iran had agreed to invite International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country. However, Iran did not acknowledge that and it was not immediately clear how big a shift that would be.
Since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in 2025, inspectors have visited the Islamic Republic.
However, Tehran has refused inspectors access to the enrichment sites in the country bombed by the U.S., where Iran’s highly enriched uranium is believed to be buried.
Vance said that he was returning to Washington, but he said that talks would continue between the American and Iranian “technical teams.”
“We wanted to set up a structure for that so that you could have proper political oversight, but obviously, as much as this place is very beautiful, I can’t stay here for the next 60 days,” Vance told reporters.
The vice president said that the negotiating teams would have the proper oversight in DC as they waded into an array of issues including how to monitor and address the nuclear material in Iran.
Vance said negotiators had been in constant contact with Netanyahu as well as other countries in the region throughout the negotiations in Switzerland. Some hardliners in Israel’s government have criticized Netanyahu for being sidelined in the negotiations.
Vance said Monday that the U.S. and Iran have made progress on four key points in initial negotiations in Switzerland, listing them as:
Establishing a mechanism for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open
Coordination for the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon
An agreement on IAEA inspection
A process for the technical negotiations that remain
The vice president said that Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Trump and one of the lead U.S. negotiators, came up with the idea with officials from Qatar.
Vance said that Qatar would have approval over the process, but Iranian money that would be accessible as sanctions were lifted “would actually go to buy American soy, American corn and American wheat for the benefit of the Iranian people.”
Iran has not acknowledged this measure and does not currently have demand for U.S. crops.
Vance said that Iranian negotiators “did threaten to walk out” on peace talks, as he defended social media posts by Trump that criticized Iran.
“What we told the Iranians yesterday is when you guys engage in what us millennials might call ‘trash talk,’ you can’t expect the president of the United States not to respond and not to correct the record,” Vance said.
Vance noted that Iran’s team continued to negotiate and did not leave the talks, adding that the country’s team of technical experts had stayed in Switzerland.
“So, yes, there was a little bit of threatening, there was a little bit of whining,” Vance said. “But at the end of the day, the talks continued and we made great progress.”
Vice President JD Vance said that peace talks with Iran had created a “good foundation for a successful final deal” to end the war that began at the end of February.
“The final deal is the house,” Vance told reporters. “We set the foundation. We haven’t built the house, but we’ve laid a successful foundation to get to a good place for the American people.”
The vice president noted that Iran’s team did threaten to walk out of the talks, but he defended social media posts by Trump that had caused Iranian officials to feel offended.
“What we told the Iranians yesterday is when you guys engage in what us millennials might call ‘trash talk,’ you can’t expect the president of the United States not to respond and not to correct the record,” Vance said.
Trump on Saturday announced that federal authorities had made “multiple arrests” of people he said were vandalizing the Reflecting Pool as he struggled to explain why the $14-million-plus rehabilitation project he launched for the nation’s 250th anniversary seemingly backfired.
Trump said his predecessors had let the pool turn an algae-stained green and that he’d line it with “American flag blue” so it better reflected the Washington Monument. But after the new pool was unveiled, its blue tinge quickly became a familiar green. Workers treated it with chemicals to kill the algae, but then the painted blue lining on the bottom began to peel.
On Friday night, Trump posted about the pool.
“We’ve had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool,” he posted on his social media site Friday night. “Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the Pool, they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed.”
He offered no details to substantiate his claim.
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Trump on Saturday lashed out at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, insisting that she asked “over and over” for a photo with him at the recent Group of Seven summit and criticizing what he said was Italy’s lack of cooperation during the Iran war.
The remarks deepen the spat that began this week with the Republican president’s interview with an Italian broadcaster, during which Trump claimed Meloni “begged” for the photo during the G7 meeting in France. Meloni has called that “completely fabricated.” The dustup led Italy’s foreign minister to cancel a planned trip to the United States as Meloni’s government lined up in her defense.
“Italian Prime Minister Gigiorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France,” Trump wrote on his social media platform while spending the weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat. He misspelled her first name in the initial post, which he later corrected.
Meloni soon responded, saying in a statement to Trump that “these constant, unprovoked attacks are senseless.”
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Senior negotiators from the U.S. and Iran on Monday wrapped up a lengthy round of initial talks aimed at solidifying a permanent end to the war between the countries.
The mediation effort in Switzerland started Sunday and had rocky moments. But it also led to some agreements between the two sides.
Mediators Qatar and Pakistan hailed what they called “encouraging progress” made during the talks as Iran and the United States agreed to create a “de-confliction cell” to address the fighting in Lebanon. A senior U.S. diplomat claimed progress on multiple fronts, including the establishment of “mechanisms” to ensure the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global energy shipments, remains open and that a ceasefire in southern Lebanon holds.
Yet the talks between the U.S. and Iran, who were accompanied by Qatari and Pakistani officials, were jolted by blistering statements from U.S. President Donald Trump, who, from thousands of miles away from the Swiss negotiating venue at a mountainside resort near Lake Lucerne, was firing off comments that offended the Iranians.
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