US disputes Iranian claims about closing Strait of Hormuz as negotiators head to Switzerland

ZURICH/DUBAI/WASHINGTON - Negotiators from the United States and Iran were set to start peace talks in Switzerland on June 21, even as US officials disputed Iranian claims about closing the key Strait of Hormuz.

A high-level Iranian team arrived in Switzerland for peace talks with the US, Iranian state media reported, as US Vice-President J.D. Vance departed Washington for meetings that Pakistan said will begin on June 21.

Although the US and Iran had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire while negotiations take place, Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on June 20 declared the Strait of Hormuz shut, though the US military said commercial vessels had continued operating in the waterway. Those developments could complicate talks in which both sides seek to advance an interim deal brokered by Pakistan and signed on June 17 by US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to end their almost four-month war.

Pointing to what it called Israeli “crimes” in Lebanon that violated US commitments to a ceasefire, the IRGC warned ships would be at risk if they approached the Strait, a vital conduit for global oil and gas supplies. But US Central Command said 55 merchant ships transited the strait on June 20 with more than 17 million barrels of oil for global markets.

US forces will ensure commercial traffic continues, Central Command added.

US Vice-President J.D. Vance departed Washington for meetings with Iran in Switzerland that Pakistan said will begin on June 21. PHOTO: REUTERS

Trump in a social media post on June 20 wrote that no toll will be charged for passage through the Strait during or after the 60-day ceasefire – unless the US imposes one should peace talks fail.

Trump left open the possibility of a Hormuz toll levied by the United States “for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East” if a peace deal is not completed.

Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, accused the US on X of failing to implement the first clause of its 14-point interim deal with Iran, which includes a ceasefire “on all fronts”, including Lebanon.

He said that, as long as the agreement was only on paper, the flow of Middle East energy would remain halted.

The Lebanon truce appeared fragile as Israeli forces and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah attacked each other.

The Iranian delegation was led by chief negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and included Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi as well as senior security, central bank and oil officials, Iranian media said. In addition to Vance, the US negotiating team includes envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran would press in Switzerland for fulfilment of commitments, citing past failures by the other side to honour agreements.

Vance, in an interview with Fox News, said he was confident the ceasefire would hold, and that he had seen no evidence that the Strait of Hormuz was closed. The US vice-president left for Switzerland shortly after 4pm ET (5am June 21 Singapore time) on June 20. Negotiators would likely have a “couple days of talks”, Vance told reporters before boarding a plane at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

“I think we’re going to hopefully make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue,” he said.

A halt to fighting in Lebanon was one of the conditions for starting U.S.-Iranian talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme and other issues. But Lebanese Civil Defence said that 20 people had been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Saturday, hours after a truce there took effect.

Israel said it was responding to attacks from Hezbollah, while the Iran-backed group said it would not allow Israel “freedom of movement” in Lebanon.

Israel, left out of the talks, has said it is not party to the Iran-US deal, and will keep its forces in the Lebanese territory it occupies.

The Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 reported that the prime minister and defence minister instructed the military to hold fire in Lebanon, but that it would not withdraw from areas it had captured.

A poll exclusively shared with Reuters and conducted by the Israeli Hebrew University found that some 92 per cent of Israelis believe Iran benefited more from the joint Israeli-US military campaign than Israel and only some 8 per cent of Israelis think Israel emerged victorious. Almost 90 per cent of Israelis said the goals of the war were not met and more than 70 per cent don’t believe Netanyahu’s claims that there were major achievements.

Lebanon’s state news agency NNA said Israeli warplanes and drones had struck locations across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley on June 20, both Hezbollah strongholds.

Smoke rises from the site of a string of Israeli airstrikes that targeted the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on June 20. PHOTO: AFP

An Israeli military official said Hezbollah fired more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon overnight, and that Israel had attacked what it described as Hezbollah targets in response.

A military statement said Israel was committed to the ceasefire but would continue to act against any threat to Israel or its forces.

Lebanon’s health ministry says 4,057 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since March 2, including medics, women and children, though it does not specify how many of the dead were combatants.

Israeli authorities say at least 32 soldiers and four civilians have been killed in fighting with Hezbollah. REUTERS