Iran peace talks off to rocky start as Trump's threats trigger walkout by Iranian negotiators

A series of high-level talks between the United States and Iran got off to a rocky start in Switzerland on Sunday, as negotiators from both sides gathered to flesh out the interim agreement signed last week. The process nearly unravelled before it began—Iran's delegation walked out of the negotiating site in protest after President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to threaten Tehran over its support for proxies in Lebanon. The walkout did not derail the talks entirely, and negotiations resumed and ran late into Monday morning.

Trump did not stop there, warning that "if they don't, we'll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder." Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, hit back swiftly. "They would do better to be careful about their statements," he said. "Our armed forces are prepared to respond in kind. They may keep talking; it is we who act." The walkout may have amounted to merely a brief interruption, but it signals just how fragile the negotiating environment remains even after both sides agreed to come to the table.

Many observers questioned the wisdom of issuing public threats on social media while American negotiators were in the middle of negotiations. Vice President J.D. Vance pushed back, making clear the administration would not temper its tone in the face of what he characterised as Iranian "trash talk" at the negotiating table. "There was a little bit of threatening, there was a little bit of whining," Vance told reporters. "But at the end of the day, the talks continued, and we made great progress."

The walkout was not the only complication. Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again on Saturday, citing ceasefire violations by Israel in Lebanon—a move the U.S. military swiftly pushed back on, insisting that traffic through the strait was flowing normally under American monitoring. By the time talks concluded, both sides appeared to align on at least one point: the strait was open, and commercial shipping was moving without incident.

The interim agreement, dubbed the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, is only the first step toward resolving the four-month war, triggered by a joint U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran. The complications reflected how a deal, drawing sharp criticism at home, with opponents arguing the agreement handed Iran significant concessions, faces a long and uncertain road to a final settlement.

When talks concluded, Vance declared that the two sides had built a solid foundation toward a final deal. The two sides announced the creation of a mechanism for further discussions. This includes a high-level committee tasked with providing political oversight of the mediation process. Both chief negotiators will report to the committee and lead dedicated working groups covering three key areas: nuclear issues, sanctions, and a monitoring and dispute resolution group charged with ensuring the effective implementation of the memorandum.

On the contentious issue of Lebanon, the two sides agreed to establish a de-confliction cell involving both parties and the Lebanese Republic, facilitated by the mediators, to ensure the cessation of military operations. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi framed the stakes plainly, saying the first real test of the negotiations would be whether the new mechanism succeeds in halting the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The 63-year-old also confirmed that Iran would be able to resume oil exports following the lifting of the American blockade, with some frozen assets set to be released and a major reconstruction and development plan for Iran in the works—though he offered no further details on the latter. Vance floated the possibility that the U.S. may attach conditions to the unfreezing of Iranian assets, suggesting Tehran could be required to direct those funds toward purchases of American soy, corn, and wheat, with Qatar overseeing the process.

The question of Iran's nuclear programme remains unresolved. Trump suggested on Monday that Tehran would need to agree to weapons inspections to ensure what he called "nuclear honesty," but Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told the official IRNA news agency that nuclear issues had not yet been discussed and that no new commitments had been made, Reuters reported.

Iran had restricted access to International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and suspended them entirely when the war broke out, the report added. These inspections were part of the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that Trump canceled during his first term. The focus now shifts to technical talks, which are set to continue at the Swiss resort through the week, with Vance having departed Switzerland and left U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to handle the finer details of the negotiations, according to the Associated Press.