Vance Scraps Iran Trip as Lebanon Ceasefire Stalls
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- Iran refused to dispatch negotiators to a Swiss resort until Israel stops striking Hezbollah in Lebanon, forcing Vice President JD Vance to call off his overnight trip from Joint Base Andrews after dozens of White House staff and journalists had already gathered.
- Israel and Hezbollah agreed Friday to renew their ceasefire — though neither is a party to the separate U.S.-Iran deal — and a Qatari mediator still traveled to the Obbürgen resort to meet Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.
- Fighting had intensified before the ceasefire, with at least 18 people killed in Israeli airstrikes and four Israeli soldiers killed in southern Lebanon; Israeli PM Netanyahu said forces would stay in a southern Lebanon "security zone" as long as needed.
- Brent crude was on track for an 8% weekly decline on the ceasefire news, while shares eased and the yen hovered near 40-year lows, according to Reuters' market coverage.
- Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei endorsed direct U.S. negotiations — a notable shift given he was badly wounded in the Feb. 28 U.S. strike that killed his father, who had long opposed talks.
- President Trump signed the underlying agreement Wednesday at a Versailles dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron; Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed separately, and the deal requires Iran's enriched uranium stockpile to be diluted under international supervision while opening a two-month negotiation window.
- Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said a $300-billion reconstruction fund in the 14-point agreement is "completely out of step" with Trump's goals, even as Trump insisted no U.S. taxpayer money would go to it.
Why it matters: The two-month diplomatic clock on Iran's nuclear program and Strait of Hormuz oil traffic is now hostage to an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire that neither side is contractually bound to maintain, giving Iran leverage to extract concessions while Brent crude already priced in an 8% weekly drop on the ceasefire news.
