US Vice President JD Vance will not be coming to Switzerland on Friday.Image: keystone
June 19, 2026, 06:27June 19, 2026, 06:32
The USA and Iran actually wanted to meet on Friday at Bürgenstock to begin negotiations for a final agreement. But now US Vice President JD Vance has announced that he will not travel to Switzerland for negotiations with Iran for the time being.
As a US government official explained to the German Press Agency late on Thursday evening (local time), JD Vance will not be flying to Switzerland on Friday night (local time) as originally planned. “The logistics of these negotiations have never been easy or predictable.” It initially remained unclear whether or when the trip would take place.
Police officers on Thursday in the canton of Nidwalden.Image: keystone
It was actually planned that delegations from Iran and the USA would meet today to negotiate a permanent end to the war. Vance later said the negotiations would take place, but left the timing open. «Our plan is to go to Switzerland. I don’t know exactly when.” He assumes that the technical negotiations could start sometime this weekend.
After signing the declaration of intent to end the war, the difficult part now begins. On Thursday, there was still a lot of uncertainty about the format of this meeting. However, the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (EDA), which welcomed the protocol, assured that preparations with the two countries and the Pakistani and Qatari mediators were continuing.
But no signature
This meeting was originally intended to mark the signing of the “Islamabad Memorandum,” which was reached after months of disputes between Washington and Tehran. However, the electronic initialing by US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Massoud Peseschkian on Wednesday evening changed the initial situation.
Iranian President Massoud Peseschkian shows the signed document on Wednesday.Image: keystone
Now the Pakistani mediator is only talking about a ceremony to commemorate the signing, but also about the start of 60 days of negotiations. The Prime Minister of Pakistan canceled his visit to Switzerland after the entry into force of the Protocol. However, the Iranian regime’s new strongman, Speaker of Parliament Mohammed Ghalibaf, could arrive. Switzerland, for its part, is likely to be represented at Federal Council level.
According to the protocol, the United States and Iran must agree in the next two months in particular on the modalities for neutralizing Iranian uranium enriched to 60 percent. This deadline seems short to most experts because the settlement of this issue had already taken a long time before the agreement from which Trump withdrew his country around ten years ago.
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, did not want to speculate on the future role of his institution in Geneva on Thursday. He did not rule out attending on Friday. Several scenarios are on the table, such as transferring the uranium abroad or diluting it to 5 percent under the supervision of the UN agency. (dab/sda/dpa)