United States Vice President JD Vance on Monday 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 at Switzerland's Burgenstock resort.
"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,” he added.
Vance also stated that Iran has agreed to invite International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country, adding that this "is a major milestone for the American people and the first step in permanently denuclearising or permanently ending a nuclear weapons programme in Iran."
He noted that the Iranians did warn that they would walk out of the talks after US President Donald Trump threatened to attack the country, amidst the negotiations. However, Vance defended Trump's posts.
"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 Sunday threatened to attack Iran demanding that the country stop its support for Hezbollah in Lebanon.
"If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!" Trump had posted on his Truth Social platform.
Iran's senior envoys left Switzerland on Monday after a two-day-long marathon negotiating session with the US leaders.
Mediators Pakistan and Qatar said the negotiators reached agreement on a "roadmap towards reaching a final deal within 60 days", with technical talks to continue for the rest of the week at the Swiss resort of Burgenstock.
"Encouraging progress has been made including the creation of a mechanism for further technical talks," they said, detailing a contact channel set up to "avoid incidents and miscommunication" in the Strait of Hormuz.
A "de-confliction cell", between the parties and the Lebanese authorities has also been agreed to prevent fighting from erupting again, they said.
"Tireless Pakistani and Qatari mediation has delivered major progress to end Lebanon War," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X after the high-level talks in Switzerland.
"Oil and petrochem exports are waived, blockade lifted, some frozen assets released, and major reconstruction & development plan launched for Iran. 1st real test: Lebanon deconfliction cell," he wrote.
Switzerland's foreign ministry, meanwhile, said the talks had created "the conditions for the immediate resumption of new technical discussions."
Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will travel to Pakistan on Tuesday, state media reported.
Expressing appreciation to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for "his mediation between Iran and the United States" is among the objectives of the visit, Habibollah Abbasi, director of public relations at the president's office, said, according to the IRNA state news agency.
