Iran peace talks stumble as Trump threats spark protest

Trump’s threats landed at the worst possible moment for a negotiating track already strained by war in Lebanon and disputes over the Strait of Hormuz. At the Bürgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne, Vice President JD Vance met Iranian officials on Sunday as Tehran protested President Donald Trump’s latest remarks and questioned whether trust could survive the public warnings.

The U.S. delegation was led by Vance and included Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Mediators from Qatar and Pakistan also joined the talks, while Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said the Iranian delegation was led by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Vance said Trump had asked the team to “turn over a new leaf” in relations with the Iranian people, but the diplomatic tone was quickly overshadowed by the president’s warnings.

On Truth Social, Trump said the United States would “hit Iran very hard again” unless Iran stopped its “highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon,” a reference to Hezbollah. In a separate Fox News interview, Trump reportedly warned that if Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. would “blow the s out of them,” and said Iran’s president should “shape up” or the United States would take over the rest of the country. Iran’s Tasnim news agency said the delegation had protested those remarks to the American side and was reviewing an appropriate response, calling any threat a serious violation of the agreement.

The talks were the first under an interim memorandum of understanding that created a 60-day window for a final deal and was signed on June 18, 2026, at Versailles. The broader agenda was meant to end the conflict, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and, eventually, address more technical issues including Iran’s nuclear program. CNBC said the sides still had to settle some of the thorniest questions, and critics warned the initial terms appeared to favor Tehran.

The pressure points were already visible before the meeting began. NBC News reported that Iran had said it had again closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon, while the United States denied the waterway was closed. CNBC also reported that Trump suggested the U.S. could charge ships to transit the strait if a final deal was not reached within the 60-day window.

Violence in Lebanon added to the urgency. Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 16 people, including two children, on Saturday. NBC News said Iran’s first mandate in the talks was to end the aggression in Lebanon, underscoring how the negotiations were being pulled between substantive disputes and the political damage caused by Trump’s public threats.