ISLAMABAD, JUN 20: Pakistan on Saturday announced that technical-level talks between the US and Iran will be held tomorrow (Sunday) in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, as Islamabad stepped up diplomacy to keep the peace process on track.
“Representatives of the United States and Iran, along with mediators from Pakistan and Qatar, will participate in the discussions,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.
According to the Foreign Office, Pakistan will continue to “facilitate the process in its role as mediator” to advance the understandings reached between Tehran and Washington under the Islamabad memorandum of understanding.
The statement comes days after the United States and Iran electronically signed the MoU aimed at ending the conflict in the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump announced the signing on June 15, saying the agreement included provisions on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the lifting of the US blockade on Iranian ports.
Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed the agreement on behalf of their respective countries, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif later signed the Islamabad MoU as mediator, formally sealing the deal.
Meanwhile, Iranian state media reported that Tehran’s negotiating team left for Switzerland for discussions on the implementation of the agreement signed with the US to halt the Mideast war.
“Iranian negotiators have left for Switzerland,” state news agency Irna reported, after quoting foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei as warning that the deal was “in trouble”.
“The other side must take the necessary measures as soon as possible. Otherwise, the entire understanding will be in trouble,” Baqaei said.
On Washington’s part, Vice President JD Vance said he expected to go to Switzerland soon for talks with Iran, even as Tehran’s high command was reported as saying it would shut the Strait of Hormuz due to what it called US and Israeli truce violations.
Iran’s top joint military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said the waterway — vital to global oil shipments — would be closed to vessel traffic, citing alleged violations of a ceasefire agreement by the US and Israel, Iran’s Mehr state news agency reported.
It said that the closure was the “first step” in response to what it described as breaches of commitments and warned that further measures would be taken if “aggression” continued.
The Mehr report emerged as Vance told Fox News in an interview that he was confident the ceasefire agreed in Washington’s 14-point deal with Tehran would hold, and that he saw no evidence that Hormuz was closed.
A day earlier, American media outlets reported that US envoy Steve Witkoff was headed to Switzerland for talks after scheduled US-Iran negotiations due to take place there on Friday were postponed.
Witkoff was on his way to the alpine nation on Friday, Axios said, citing an unnamed US official.
Trump’s envoy Jared Kushner was also expected to be in Switzerland for talks, CNN said, citing a US official. Axios said he was already there.
