Nuclear Watchdog Returns to Iran, Switzerland Talks Laid the Foundation: Vance

Iran has agreed to invite International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors back into the country, Vice President JD Vance announced following a day of talks in Switzerland.

Vance used an upbeat tone in his remarks following the Switzerland session:

"Yesterday was a very, very good day. We made a lot of good progress. We did exactly what we wanted to do," he said, before laying out what the US team had set out to achieve.

A Mechanism To Keep Hormuz Open

"We wanted to build a mechanism for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open. It is open," he said.

"We wanted to make sure we set up a mechanism so that when conflicts inevitably come up, we can work through them."

He added that he would be returning to the US, with technical teams remaining to continue the work.

"I can't stay here for the next 60 days. The technical teams will be working."

Iran Threatened to Walk, Then Didn't

Vance acknowledged the talks had their tense moments.

"The Iranians did threaten to walk out, or at least there were social media threats that they would walk out. They didn't walk out," he said.

He also addressed friction over Iranian statements that drew public responses from Trump.

"We told the Iranians yesterday: 'When you guys engage in what us millennials might call trash talk, you can't expect Trump not to respond.' When they say things that aren't true, Trump is going to respond to it."

Lebanon: "A Work in Progress"

On Lebanon, Vance acknowledged Israel’s violations while arguing the situation had improved.

"Over the past 24 hours, it's probably been the most peaceful the situation in Lebanon has been. The previous 24 hours were pretty good. Obviously, there was some shooting 72 hours ago. This is a work in progress," he said.

He framed incidents that breach the ceasefire as: "Sometimes a junior guy fires a drone that didn't have approval from the high command. Of course, Israel has to respond to that, but we could have a more peaceful situation if Israel responds in the context of the conversation that is ongoing between Hezbollah, Lebanon, Israel, and other partners in the region."

Asked directly whether the US wants Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon, Vance told:

"The Israelis have been very clear that they don't have territorial intentions in southern Lebanon. The reason they feel they have to be there is because they are worried about Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon. We believe we can get to a place where both Lebanon's territorial integrity and Israel's security are protected," he said.

Earlier this week, however, the Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir stated that they had no intention of withdrawing from Lebanon:

A Classical Trump Deal For “Less Shooting”

Vance gave particular credit to Jared Kushner and Qatar for the financial architecture of the agreement:

"What Jared and the Qataris and the entire team accomplished is, to me, a classic Trump deal. If Iranian assets are ever unfrozen, they are going to make American farmers richer and help feed the Iranian people," he said.

He closed with a broader note on the nature of the ceasefire:

"As Trump said, sometimes these ceasefires mean you are shooting a little bit less. But we wanted to make sure that we have the proper coordination set up so that if there is shooting - if Hezbollah fires at Israel, or if Israel responds - we are actually talking to each other and figuring out how to stop the shooting.”

The 60-day negotiating window for reaching a final comprehensive deal remains in effect.