STORY: U.S. Vice President JD Vance held peace talks with Iran at a Swiss resort on Sunday (June 21), overshadowed by Tehran saying it had shut the Strait of Hormuz.

""What the president has asked us to do is turn over a new leaf to transform our relationship with the people of Iran and to extend an outstretched hand," Vance said in remarks ahead of the meeting with leaders from Iran, Pakistan and Qatar.

The talks in the Swiss mountain resort of Buergenstock owned by mediator Qatar were the first to be held under the terms of a memorandum of understanding agreed a week ago.

It calls for the strait to be reopened and a halt to all hostilities, including in Lebanon, which U.S. ally Israel invaded in March. But Iran, arguing that Washington had failed to meet its commitment to halt fighting in Lebanon, said it had shut the strait again and Sunday's talks would not cover substantive issues such as Iran's nuclear programme.

At the talks, where U.S. and Iranian officials met in the presence of Qatari mediators, Vance played down the impact of violence in Lebanon, saying progress had been made towards ending hostilities there in recent days.

"We've seen great progress over the last just couple of days in ensuring that the ceasefire holds in Lebanon. These things are always a little bit messy."

More than a million people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon since March by Israel's invasion.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: BUERGENSTOCK, SWITZERLAND (JUNE 21, 2026) (U.S. NETWORK POOL - No use USA)

1. U.S. VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE GREETS PAKISTAN'S PRIME MINISTER SHEHBAZ SHARIF AND PAKISTAN'S CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF FIELD MARSHAL ASIM MUNIR/ PAKISTAN'S SHARIF GREETING SPECIAL ENVOY STEVE WITKOFF GREETING PAKISTAN'S SHARIF AND MUNIR

2. VANCE WALKING TOWARDS DELEGATION WHILE TRUMP'S SON-IN-LAW JARED KUSHNER GREETS SHARIF AND MUNIR

3. IRAN'S FOREIGN MINISTER ABBAS ARAQCHI AND PAKISTAN'S PRIME MINISTER SHEHBAZ SHARIF GREETING EACH OTHER

4. VANCE, WITKOFF AND KUSHNER STANDING TOGETHER

5. WHITE FLASH

6.(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE SAYING:

"The opening of the Strait of Hormuz, the ending of the Iranian nuclear program, all of these things have already been accomplished. The question before us now is how much more can we accomplish together? Can we turn over a new leaf? Can we change relations in the Middle East permanently, or do we go back to doing things the old way, which is not our preference, but it's certainly very much something that can happen."

7. WHITE FLASH

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE SAYING:

"I think it's important for the American people, but people all over the world to appreciate that what's brought us to this moment is the president's leadership and the president's willingness to see a Middle East that is much different 10 years from now than it was 10 years ago. And what we're trying to accomplish here is something very simple. Through diplomacy, through working together to transform the Middle East, where Iran and the Gulf have been at war with each other, or at least have had very unfriendly relations, where Iran has been a driver of regional instability, now we see a future where everybody can work together to promote peace and prosperity for everyone. What we have already seen back home in the United States is lower gas prices. We've seen the free flow of oil and gas. We've seen peace. And now we're trying to build on that to see if we can build something even better and more sustainable for the future."

9. WHITE FLASH

10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE SAYING:

"What the president has asked us to do is turn over a new leaf to transform our relationship with the people of Iran and to extend an outstretched hand. That says to the people of Iran that if your leadership is willing to give up being a driver of regional instability, if they are willing to give up nuclear weapons ambitions for the long term, then the United States is willing to fundamentally transform our relationship with that country. That is certainly our goal. We've already made great progress over just the last few hours, and I expect we will make additional progress in the hours to come."

11. WHITE FLASH

12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE SAYING:

"Well, first of all, we've seen great progress over the last just couple of days in ensuring that the ceasefire holds in Lebanon. These things are always a little bit messy. If you go back to how much was happening three months ago and compare it to three weeks ago, great progress has been made. If you go back to three weeks ago to three days ago, additional progress has been made. The President has committed us to see a full regional ceasefire. We found great partners in working with the Qataris, the Pakistanis, our friends in Israel; we're all working towards regional peace. There, of course, are going to be sometimes disagreements about precisely how to get there, but I actually feel great about where we are in Lebanon. There's still some additional wood to chop, but we're going to keep on working at it."

13. WHITE FLASH

14. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER SHEHBAZ SHARIF SAYING:

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's a great day. A day which is going to promote peace and prosperity, not only in the region where crisis really created humongous challenges, but this will have global peace. And I must, at this point in time, with fullest sincerity at my domain, thank President Donald Trump for his visionary and very dynamic leadership, which has resulted in this meeting here today in the beautiful city of Buergenstock. And I think here we are going to have wonderful discussions which will lead to hopefully very productive results in times to come."

15. WHITE FLASH

16. (SOUNDBITE) (English) QATARI PRIME MINISTER SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN AL-THANI SAYING:

"Qatar will stay dedicated to this partnership to support these mediations until the end, until we reach a solution. We will always be a partner in bringing more peace, prosperity, and hopefully a better future for our region. Thank you very much."

17. WHITE FLASH

18. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE SAYING:

"What today really represents is the beginning of a technical negotiation that's not going to solve every disagreement, but it's going to allow us to sit together as teams for the first time really in history to figure out what matters most to the respective parties, to settle those issues, to solve those issues, and get to a better tomorrow. The reason why the political leadership of the respective countries is here is because we wanted to, first of all, set up the structure for these technical negotiations, and second of all, make sure that our teams have our full support and know they can always call on us to break through any barriers. We've got a lot of work to do. We're excited to do it. Thank you all for being here."

19. VANCE GREETING OFFICIALS AS PRESS IS USHERED OUT