Vance says Iran talks made progress as U.S. seeks 60-day deal

Vice President JD Vance put the Iran negotiations on a simple test: words do not matter unless the parties carry them out. “You can’t trust anybody’s words. You have to trust what they actually do,” Vance told reporters as he prepared to leave Switzerland, where U.S. and Iranian officials held two days of high-level talks aimed at producing a final deal within 60 days.

The sessions in Bürgenstock, with Qatar and Pakistan serving as mediators, were the first under a U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding reached last week. Officials described the round as producing a road map for a final agreement, along with a High Level Committee that will provide political oversight of the mediation. The agenda stretched well beyond the nuclear file, reaching sanctions, dispute resolution, Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint through which roughly 25% of the world’s total energy supply is said to move.

What would count as progress in that framework is concrete and measurable. Vance said Iran agreed to permit International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country, which he called a major milestone. He also said the parties established a process meant to reduce the chance of escalation around the Strait of Hormuz, including work on de-mining the waterway. That matters not only for diplomacy but for markets: any disruption in the strait can ripple quickly through oil, shipping and broader energy prices.

The talks also created a deconfliction line connected to Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah continued while negotiators met. That detail underscores how closely the nuclear talks remain tied to wider regional security risks. Iranian officials objected to Donald Trump’s recent threats during the negotiations, describing them as verbal threats that violated the spirit of the agreement.

Abbas Araghchi said the talks delivered “major progress,” while mediators called the first round “positive” and “constructive.” Araghchi also pointed to movement on oil exports, frozen assets and reconstruction plans. Vance said there was still a long list of unresolved issues, including how any unfrozen Iranian assets would be handled. For now, the difference from past rounds of diplomacy is clear: the benchmark is no longer another statement of intent, but whether inspectors return, technical talks continue, and the new committee can hold both sides to the same timetable.