Iran on Saturday, June 20, denied reports that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is travelling to Switzerland for negotiations with US envoy Steve Witkoff, saying no talks will take place until Washington fulfils its obligations under a recently signed memorandum of understanding (MOU).
According to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, Tehran rejected claims that Araghchi and Witkoff would soon meet in Switzerland. Iranian officials said no delegation would attend negotiations unless Article 13 of the MOU is fully implemented.
The statement came as fighting continued in Lebanon despite reports of ceasefire efforts, with Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday killing at least seven people, including two children.
Iran sets conditions for resuming talks
Iran maintains that all negotiations with the United States, including discussions on its nuclear programme, remain suspended until key provisions of the agreement are fulfilled.
According to Tasnim, Tehran argues that Article 13 requires the United States to ensure an immediate end to military operations in Lebanon, including a permanent Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Iran also says Washington must issue Treasury waivers allowing Iranian oil exports and financial transactions and release up to USD 100 billion in frozen Iranian assets.
Iranian officials said further talks would have no justification while these commitments remain unimplemented.
Seven killed despite ceasefire efforts
Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday killed at least seven people, including two children, hours after reports emerged of a ceasefire agreement. The persistent fighting threatened an interim agreement between the United States and Iran to end the war in the Middle East.
Lebanon’s National News Agency said the strikes hit the southern town of Nabatiyeh and nearby villages. At least seven people remained trapped under the rubble, it said.
Mediators were scrambling to halt the fighting between Israel and the militant Lebanese Hezbollah group after a heavy exchange on Friday killed at least 47 people in Lebanon and four Israeli soldiers.
An Israeli military official said Hezbollah had fired more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon overnight, prompting the military to launch strikes against the group. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.
On Friday, June 19, Israeli ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, said on X that Israel “remains firmly committed to an immediate ceasefire” if Hezbollah honours the agreement and ceases hostilities.
In public statements, Hezbollah has said it will abide by a ceasefire if Israel does, but has not said a ceasefire was actually in place.
A Hezbollah official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment publicly, said Friday after reports of a ceasefire deal emerged that efforts were underway by Qatar, the US and Iran to broker an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire but stopped short of confirming a deal had been reached.
A conflict that could sink the US-Iran deal
Hezbollah and Israel went to war just days after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, with Hezbollah firing rockets and drones at civilian communities in northern Israel and Israel seizing large swaths of southern Lebanon.
The interim US-Iran agreement signed this week has already reopened the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran had closed as the war unfolded — cutting off the global economy from significant supplies of oil and natural gas. The deal also envisages the relaunch of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, a core issue in the war.
Neither Israel nor Hezbollah are signatories to the deal, which calls for a halt to military operations in Lebanon and for the country’s sovereignty to be respected. With the fighting continuing, the accord is under threat, and US-Iran talks in Switzerland, planned to start Friday, have been delayed, with no new date announced.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep Israeli forces in southern Lebanon until any threat to Israel is eliminated. Hezbollah has refused to halt its attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawing from Lebanon, which Iran says is also a condition of the deal.
The fighting in the south, near the Israel-Lebanon border
Plumes of smoke rose into the sky over southern Lebanon Saturday, and Israeli jets flew low over the coastal city of Tyre.
A strike on the village of Barish killed four members of a family, the parents and two children. In Arab Salim village, a body was pulled from a destroyed house, and in the villages of Doueir and Kfar Rumman, drone strikes killed a person on a motorcycle and a Lebanese soldier.
Netanyahu’s office did not immediately comment on the ceasefire efforts. On Friday, Netanyahu posted on X that, on his orders, the Israeli army had “struck powerfully” 150 Hezbollah targets, killing dozens of militants.
Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the Israeli forces were operating in a “forward defence zone” and would continue doing so.
Iranian and US officials cancel travel to Switzerland
Iranian officials did not travel as planned to Switzerland, insisting that the fighting in Lebanon must stop before the talks can take place. US Vice President JD Vance also postponed his trip.
On Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told the semi-official ISNA news agency that Pakistan’s interior minister will arrive in Iran as part of continued negotiation efforts. Baghaei had said earlier that consultations through mediators were ongoing regarding the next phase of negotiations to draft a final US-Iran agreement.
Because the initial deal was signed digitally earlier this week, the talks in Switzerland were not urgent, and plans were underway to hold a meeting in the coming days, he said.
Much still needs to be resolved
The talks in Switzerland were expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear programme. Tehran maintains it’s for peaceful purposes only, though it has a large stockpile of uranium enriched to higher levels that are a step short of weapons-grade. That uranium could be used to build multiple atomic bombs, should Tehran choose to do so, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog.
Those talks are expected to be difficult. The 2015 nuclear deal, which US President Donald Trump scrapped during his first term, took more than 18 months to negotiate.
The interim deal gives negotiators 60 days to come up with a nuclear agreement, but that can be extended. It outlines lucrative incentives if Iran does reach a new agreement, including the eventual lifting of all international sanctions and a USD 300 billion fund for postwar reconstruction.
Iran has already won some concessions. Following the signing of the interim deal, the US lifted its blockade of Iran’s ports and is allowing it to sell its oil freely. The deal also calls for Iran’s assets to be unfrozen — though it’s not clear how quickly.
With inputs from Associated Press.
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