A source close to the negotiating team told Reuters that the first round of US-Iran talks in Switzerland has concluded, while Iranian state television said that "the negotiating delegations of Tehran and Washington held a first round of talks in Switzerland, which focused on the situation in Lebanon and did not address the nuclear file."
Iranian television explained that the round of talks lasted only 80 minutes, and Lebanon was the priority before the Iranian delegation withdrew from the negotiating room in protest against Trump's new threats against Iran.
Iran's delegation counts from the negotiating room
The corridors of the Lake Lucerne summit in Switzerland witnessed the departure of the Iranian negotiating delegation from the hall of direct talks with the American side.
According to Iranian media, this abrupt withdrawal came in public protest against the sharp military threats launched by US President Donald Trump, leaving the entire negotiation process in a state of uncertainty and uncertainty following the suspension of the joint quadrilateral meeting just 80 minutes after it was launched for emergency internal consultations.
These outlets, led by Tasnim and Press TV, confirmed that the Tehran delegation submitted a strongly worded official protest to the US side before its members left the headquarters of direct talks in the resort of "Bürgenstock".
Reuters quoted a source close to the negotiations as confirming that the first round was forcibly concluded amid a fraught atmosphere, which was manifested in the US Vice President J.D. Vance and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi standing face to face without shaking hands or exchanging a word, putting the 60-day deadline set to reach a final agreement under real test.
Trump's threats
US President Donald Trump's remarks to Fox News, coinciding with the start of the summit on Sunday, have triggered a diplomatic crisis.
Tehran has vowed a devastating armed response if it sticks to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a move taken by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday in response to ongoing Israeli attacks in Lebanon that Tehran sees as a breach of the memorandum of understanding.
Trump said in a sharp tone that Iranian negotiators in Switzerland "will not be able to return home" if the strait is closed, threatening to strike deep inside Iran with more force than the attacks he ordered last week.
The US president has hinted at the possibility of imposing direct military control over the Strait of Hormuz if security necessity requires it, indicating that his country could become the "guardian angel" of the international waterway and deduct 20% of the oil revenues passing through it.
Tehran's Response: The Promise of the Field Option
The speaker of Iran's parliament and head of the negotiating delegation, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, reacted forcefully to the US threats immediately after the end of the first round, warning officials in Washington against continuing to make such provocative statements.
Ghalibaf stressed that the Iranian armed forces are at the highest level of readiness to respond in completely different ways, pointing out that the leadership in Tehran does not give weight to American threats that reflect the current state of "impotence" of the White House, adding: "No matter how many Americans talk, we are the ones who move and implement on the ground."
Behind the scenes of the first round and the agenda of the negotiations
The technical talks in their first session between Tehran and Washington, according to Iranian state television, focused on the file of calm in Lebanon and ensuring compliance with the comprehensive ceasefire, without addressing the Tehran nuclear file or the issue of uranium enrichment at this stage.
Negotiators discussed the wording of a final draft to grant Iran a temporary exemption from oil export sanctions, as well as banking arrangements aimed at releasing Iranian assets frozen abroad under the truce understandings. The Iranian negotiator made the resumption of talks on any other political or technical items conditional on an immediate end to the ongoing war in Lebanon and an end to the ongoing military incursions between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.
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