U.S. Vice President JD Vance rejected characterizations of the new U.S.-Iran framework as a one-sided “surrender deal,” telling reporters in Switzerland on Monday that the negotiations underway in Bürgenstock were the product of sustained pressure from American allies across the Middle East rather than a policy Washington forced upon the region.
The comments came during a question-and-answer session following Vance’s closing news conference on the first round of technical talks held under last week’s Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding. Asked whether he had spoken directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the negotiations, Vance described a broad and continuous diplomatic effort spanning multiple governments in the region.
“Yeah, we were in constant contact with the Israelis yesterday, but also of course with the Saudis and the Emiratis and others in the region,” Vance said. “We talked to the Lebanese yesterday as well. So, we’re constantly trying to keep our regional friends updated about this.”
Vance then turned to address what he characterized as a mischaracterization of the deal’s origins. “This is not a deal that the United States is imposing on the region,” he said. “This is a deal that the region has desperately asked the United States to put in place. Obviously, the headlines have been very focused about what’s been going on between the United States and Iran, but this region has been a basket case for a very long time.”
The vice president framed the current round of talks as an attempt to build a durable foundation rather than a finished settlement, describing President Trump’s broader strategy in terms that left open the possibility of renewed military pressure if diplomacy fails. “What the president has set us to do, again, lay the foundation, see if we can get to a permanent peace,” Vance said. “If we can’t, the president of United States still has a lot of options to accomplish America’s security objectives. But he has certainly committed us to this pathway for now and we’re going to keep on working and seeing what we can accomplish.”
The framing stands in contrast to criticism Vance and other administration officials have faced since the memorandum’s signing last week. Critics in Washington and elsewhere have argued that the agreement’s terms — including a $300 billion reconstruction package for Iran, the lifting of United Nations and U.S. sanctions, and the unfreezing of Iranian assets — tilt heavily in Tehran’s favor, particularly given that Iran secured an end to U.S. and Israeli strikes, the lifting of the Strait of Hormuz blockade, and sanctions relief without making major concessions on its nuclear program at the outset.
Vance’s portrayal of regional consensus also comes against a more complicated diplomatic backdrop. Israeli officials have expressed concern about elements of the emerging deconfliction arrangement for Lebanon, with reports indicating Netanyahu’s government has launched its own diplomatic effort to ensure Israel retains freedom of action against threats from Hezbollah and is not excluded from oversight of the new mechanism. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated Monday that Israeli forces maintain “complete freedom of action” to act against threats in southern Lebanon, in the Gaza Strip, “and anywhere it is necessary to defend the State of Israel.”
The talks in Bürgenstock brought together not just American and Iranian delegations but representatives from Qatar and Pakistan, both of which have served as mediators throughout the process. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the country’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, met separately with Vance during the visit, while Qatar and Pakistan’s foreign ministries issued a joint statement describing Sunday’s session as “positive” and “constructive.”
Iran, for its part, has signaled that its priorities for the Bürgenstock round centered less on the nuclear file than on securing an end to renewed fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said ahead of the talks that ending the Lebanon conflict was the delegation’s central focus, while Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian separately emphasized the importance of restoring Iran’s access to frozen financial assets.
Despite Vance’s characterization of broad regional buy-in, the path to the Switzerland talks was anything but smooth. President Trump threatened renewed military action against Iran over the weekend, warning in a social media post that the U.S. would “hit them hard again” if Tehran did not restrain Hezbollah, a warning that came as Iran said it had again closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
Vance acknowledged the turbulence but maintained that the overall trajectory of the talks remained positive, telling reporters that the technical teams from both delegations remained at the Bürgenstock resort working through the details of the framework even as the news conference concluded. He said further coordination with regional partners, including Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, would continue as negotiators move toward a final deal under the 60-day window established by the memorandum signed last week.