Maia Davies,
Mallory MoenchAnd
BBC Check
Reuters
The first round of negotiations between the United States and Iran to reach a final agreement ending the war ended with “encouraging progress,” mediators from Qatar and Pakistan said.
In a joint statement on Monday, Qatar and Pakistan said a “high-level committee” had agreed on “a road map to reach a final agreement within 60 days.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said there had been “major progress” towards ending the conflict in Lebanon.
THE memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed last week includes a commitment to end fighting on “all fronts” – including in Lebanon – and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“Pakistani and Qatari mediation has achieved major progress in ending the Lebanese war,” Araghchi posted on social media.
“Exports of oil and petrochemicals are eliminated, the blockade is lifted, some frozen assets are released, and a major reconstruction and development plan is launched for Iran.”
Iran’s top negotiators have now left Switzerland, where negotiations began on Sunday, Iranian media said, and technical discussions between the sides are expected to continue.
The mediators’ joint statement said a “communication line” was formed “to avoid incidents and communication problems with the aim of ensuring the safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.”
The two sides also agreed to the creation of a “deconfliction cell” between the United States, Iran and Lebanon, facilitated by the mediating countries, to end military operations in Lebanon, their statement said. Araghchi described this as the “first real test”.
Since the signing of the memorandum of understanding, there has been an increase in fighting between the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, as well as Israeli airstrikes which, according to the Health Ministry, have killed dozens of Lebanese people, including women and children.
A new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was declared on Friday. Continued clashes and airstrikes prompted Iran to announce on Saturday that it had closed the Strait of Hormuz, although tracking data shows ships continued to pass through it.
Earlier, as negotiations began in the Swiss city of Lucerne, Trump said Iran “must immediately stop its highly paid proxies in Lebanon from causing trouble” and threatened to “hit Iran very hard again” if they did not do so.
Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, responded by saying: “Don’t they think that if their threats had any effect, they wouldn’t find themselves in this desperate situation today?… No matter how much they talk, we are the ones who act.” »
On Sunday, fighting reportedly subsided, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that the Israeli army would remain in southern Lebanon as long as necessary to protect northern Israel.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected any Israeli military presence in southern Lebanon and said Hezbollah would defend itself.
Speaking before the negotiations at the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock, US Vice President JD Vance said Trump had asked negotiators to “turn over a new leaf”.
He added that if Iran’s leaders are willing to abandon their role as a “driver of regional instability” and their “long-term nuclear weapons ambitions,” then the United States “is willing to fundamentally transform our relationship with that country.”
Iran has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful.
Under the first agreement signed last weekIran was to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the main shipping channel through which 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas passes.
The United States also agreed to lift the military blockade on ships going to and from Iranian ports.
The deal also includes a $300bn (£224bn) plan for the “reconstruction” of Iran, and the US ending “all types of sanctions” against it.
But the question of Iran’s nuclear program still remains to be negotiated.
On Sunday, some ships appeared to enter, exit and transit the strait, according to location data available on maritime tracking site MarineTraffic, despite Iran’s claims – disputed by the United States – that it had closed the strait.
The initial agreement also called for an end to fighting on all fronts, but in Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes have since killed at least 67 people, while Hezbollah attacks have killed five Israeli soldiers.
Israel has insisted that its conflict with Hezbollah is separate from the war against Iran, which it launched alongside the United States on February 28.
Lebanon was drawn into war soon after, when Iran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel in retaliation for a strike that killed Iran’s supreme leader.
Israel responded by launching a bombing campaign across Lebanon and occupying about 5 percent of the country’s territory in the south – hoping to push Hezbollah fighters from its northern border – and said it had no intention of withdrawing.
Since March 2, at least 4,106 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. Its figures do not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
Israeli authorities say 36 Israeli soldiers and four civilians were killed on both sides of the border.
Additional reporting by Lana Lam, Emma Pengelly and Richard Irvine-Brown
