US-Iran Talks in Switzerland Push Through Night on
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- VP JD Vance led the US delegation in Switzerland on Sunday June 21, 2026 alongside Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, facing Iran's team headed by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and FM Abbas Araghchi, with Pakistan and Qatar acting as mediators.
- Tehran announced it had closed the Strait of Hormuz on the eve of talks over Israel's ongoing military campaign in Lebanon against Hezbollah, with Iran insisting Lebanon must be addressed first in negotiations.
- Trump threatened to impose American tolls on the strait if a final deal isn't reached within 60 days; the US maintains that shipping traffic continues despite Iran's closure announcement.
- US crude oil rose nearly 3% to $78.70 per barrel on Sunday, with Brent crude up over 1% to $81.70, reflecting lingering uncertainty around the critical waterway.
- Iran's delegation told state media that Sunday's talks centered on Lebanon, with frozen Iranian assets and oil-export sanctions also on the table per National Iranian Oil Co CEO Hamid Bovard.
- Negotiators discussed concrete "mechanisms" to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and enforce a southern Lebanon ceasefire; a senior US diplomat said Iranians remained in talks "contrary to some reports."
- Netanyahu, speaking at the JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem, said he believes the Iranian government will collapse from the military campaign and called creating conditions for an uprising an original war goal.
Why it matters: With a 60-day clock for a final deal and Iran already proving it can shut Hormuz on short notice, the talks' outcome directly governs whether the world's most critical oil chokepoint stays reliably open — the nearly 3% jump in US crude shows markets pricing that risk right now. Iran's insistence on sequencing Lebanon first also means Israel's ongoing campaign, not the negotiating table, is the real lever on progress.
