Iranian officials abandoned peace talks in the wake of President Donald Trump’s threat to ‘blow the shit out of them,’ just hours after Vice President JD Vance arrived in Switzerland for negotiations with Tehran.
The president threatened Iran to restart his bombing campaigns on the country through profanity filled phone calls and posts on social media while Vance began negotiations.
Iranian officials backed out of the talks after having filed a formal complaint with Pakistani and Qatari mediators and also refused to pose for photographs, according to the Telegraph.
Tehran’s Chief negotiator Mohammed Ghalibaf warned that the US should be cautious with its statements: ‘We do not take American threats into account.’
‘They would do better to be careful with their statements; our armed forces are ready to respond to them in a different manner. No matter what they say, we are the ones who act.’
The collapse in talks comes shortly after the US and Iran signed a fragile interim deal on Wednesday to end the war. It gives the two countries 60 days to negotiate a deal to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and establish a path forward on Iran’s nuclear program.
The deal also calls for an end to fighting in Lebanon – a key demand from Iran listed in the first paragraph of the agreement.
But only days after signing the agreement, it is being stress-tested after fighting escalated in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.
In response, Iran’s military soon announced that the Strait of Hormuz was once again closed. The country said that resolving the situation in Lebanon would become a part of the negotiations in Switzerland.
Vance was attempting to downplay the intensity of the fighting in Lebanon during Sunday morning’s negotiations, minutes before Trump renewed threats of bombing Iran if the country does not rein in Hezbollah and the militant group’s strikes against Israel.
Trump disclosed that he told Iranian officials: ‘You close the strait and you won’t have a country.
‘You won’t even make it back to your f****** country … we’ll take over the rest of the country,’ he added, according to Fox News.
‘We may take over the Strait, if we have to. I’ll blow the s*** out of them.’
In a Truth Social post, the president wrote: ‘Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!’
Hours before, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian emphasized that Iran will maintain its right to a nuclear program.
‘What is certain is that we will never back down from the right to enrich uranium, and the other side is also forced to accept it,’ Pezeshkian said on Sunday, according to Iran’s state media.
During an interview with Fox News Sunday morning, Trump shot back and said that Pezeshkian ‘better watch his mouth.’ He also told Iran that they won’t have a country if the Strait of Hormuz is closed.
According to the Telegraph discussions did not go on long enough to speak about Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran said talks, including negotiations over its nuclear program, could not move forward until the fighting in Lebanon comes to an end.
Trump also criticized Israel, saying the country ‘can’t do anything without blowing up buildings’ in its fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Vance, who arrived in Switzerland with his pregnant wife Usha Vance around 6am on Sunday, was accompanied by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump‘s son-in-law, for Sunday’s talks.
Witkoff and Kushner were on the ground in Switzerland ahead of Vance to begin sifting through the technical details of the nuclear talks.
A renewed ceasefire in Lebanon, brokered on Saturday, appeared to be holding up as Vance began discussions with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Staff Field Marshall Asim Munir, who has served as a key intermediary throughout the conflict.
‘What’s up, man! Good to see you,’ Vance said as he warmly greeted Munir, who serves as Pakistan’s army chief.
Later, he spoke to reporters and said that conflict between Israel and Hezbollah should not upend the recently signed deal between the US and Iran.
‘We’ve seen great progress over the last couple of days in ensuring that the cease-fire holds in Lebanon. These things are always a little bit messy,’ Vance said.
The vice president also said that the US is ‘willing to fundamentally transform our relationship’ with Iran if the country is ‘willing to give up being a driver of regional instability, if they are willing to give up nuclear weapons ambitions in the long term.’
Sharif met separately with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who is leading Tehran’s delegation, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Mediators from Qatar were also on hand at the mountainside resort near Lake Lucerne.