The U.S. and Iran agreed on a path for reaching a final deal within 60 days during Sunday’s talks in Switzerland, despite comments from President Donald Trump threatening the talks from continuing.
Sunday saw officials from the U.S., including Vice President JD Vance, Iran, and mediating nations Qatar and Pakistan all meet for the first time under the newly signed memorandum of understanding.
The talks were described by Qatar’s and Pakistan’s officials as “positive” and “constructive.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on X that the meeting delivered “major progress to end [the] Lebanon War” as talks are scheduled to continue for the rest of the week.
The discussions came amid Trump’s threats on Sunday, which came as both sets were attempting to hammer out a deal.
“The Iranian delegation has expressed its protest to the American side and is now reviewing an appropriate response to Donald Trump’s recent verbal threats,” Iranian officials said through Iran’s Tasnim news agency, translated to English, adding that “any form of threat is considered a serious violation of the agreement.”
Trump posted on Truth Social that “we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” unless it stops “their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon”.
In an interview by phone on Sunday morning with Fox News, Trump said he spoke with the Iran officials overnight, and warned that if Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. will “blow the shit out of them.”
“You close it and you won’t have a country,” Fox News’ Trey Yingst said the president told him. “You won’t even make it back to your fucking country.”
Trump said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian “better watch his mouth” and “he better shape up or we’ll take over the rest of the country.”
The President added that he views the memorandum of understanding as “just an option,” saying, “I can do whatever I want after that option.”
Israel killed at least 16 people in strikes in Lebanon on Saturday, according to the country’s Health Ministry, after strikes Friday killed 83.
