Vance lands in Switzerland for Iran talks as Trump threatens 'harder' strikes

Iran said Saturday it was re-closing the Strait of Hormuz, just three days after the critical shipping waterway had reopened under the framework agreement that paused the war between Tehran and Washington.

Tehran said the U.S. had failed to stop Israel's continued strikes in Lebanon, violating the new memorandum of understanding the two countries signed earlier this week.

The announcement came moments after Vice President JD Vance publicly said the strait remained open. U.S. Central Command also posted on X earlier Saturday morning that 55 commercial ships had transited the waterway that day, moving "more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets."

"U.S. forces remain present and vigilant to ensure all aspects of the agreement with Iran are adhered to, obeyed, and in full force and effect," CENTCOM said.

Vance lands in Switzerland as Trump threatens 'harder' strikes

Vice President JD Vance, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani at the Lake Lucerne Summit in Switzerland. (Pool via Getty Images)

Vance arrived in Switzerland on Sunday morning for in-person talks with Iranian negotiators, aiming to keep the framework agreement from unraveling. Hours before he landed, Trump escalated his rhetoric on Truth Social, writing that the U.S. would "hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!" if Tehran did not rein in "their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon."

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham went further on CBS's Face the Nation, telling Iran that the U.S. would take military control of the waterway if the deal collapses.

"If this deal fails, Trump is going to take the strait over by force," Graham said. "The United States will control the strait. We will charge a fee for those who go through."

Graham's comments followed a Trump post late Saturday floating U.S. tolls on the strait if no final deal is reached, casting Washington as the region's "Guardian Angel." Trump said there would be no tolls during the 60-day negotiating window, and none after — unless the deal fell through, in which case the U.S. would charge for "services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East."

Vance, meeting Iranian negotiators at the Bürgenstock resort near Lucerne, Switzerland, struck a different tone. "The question before us now is how much more can we accomplish together?" he said as the talks got underway. "Can we turn over a new leaf?"

The talks stumbled within hours of starting. Iran's state-affiliated Fars news agency, citing an unnamed source, said Tehran had halted the negotiations after Trump's threats and that their continuation was now in doubt. Tasnim, another semi-official Iranian outlet, said the Iranian delegation had left the venue in protest. Neither U.S. nor Iranian officials have publicly confirmed a walkout.

Al Jazeera reported that the first round of talks concluded after roughly 80 minutes. Iran's lead negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, fired back at Trump in a public statement.

"They would do better to be careful with their statements; our armed forces are ready to respond to them in a different manner," Ghalibaf said. "No matter what they say, we are the ones who act."

In a Fox News interview Sunday, Trump went further than his Truth Social post, telling the network he had warned Iranian officials directly that if they closed the strait, "you won't have a country," and threatening to "take over" the waterway.

The Iranian delegation refused a planned joint handshake and photo op with the U.S. team before the talks began, according to Tasnim and videos surfacing online. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi entered the room only after journalists were cleared, embraced Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and did not interact with Vance.

The closure marks the first major test of the U.S.-Iran agreement Trump signed earlier this week, which paused more than three months of war.

The Strait of Hormuz handles roughly one-fifth of the world's oil flows. Its closure for much of the war drove average gasoline prices in the U.S. above $5 a gallon and was one of the political pressures that pushed Trump to the negotiating table.

The framework explicitly tied the strait's reopening to the broader ceasefire — including a halt to fighting in Lebanon between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Both sides have spent the past several days accusing each other of ceasefire violations.