US Vice President JD Vance yesterday said he expected to go to Switzerland soon for talks with Iran, even as Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the Strait of Hormuz shut, alleging US and Israeli truce violations.
The move by the hardline IRGC appeared to raise the stakes ahead of the talks, as both sides seek to advance the interim deal signed on Wednesday by US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to end their almost four-month war.
The IRGC warned ships not to approach the waterway, a vital conduit for global oil and gas supplies, citing what it called Israeli ‘crimes’ in Lebanon and a US violation of commitments to establish a ceasefire. It said vessels’ security would be at risk if they approached the Strait.
US Central Command said that 55 merchant ships had transited the Strait yesterday, moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets, and that US forces would ensure the flow of ships continued.
A little earlier, Fox News aired an interview with Vance in which he said he was confident the ceasefire agreed in Washington’s 14-point deal with Tehran would hold. He added that US negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff had been in Switzerland ‘for a few hours, dealing with some of the technical elements of this negotiation’.
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