A US-Iran deal aimed at ending the Iran war will be signed at Switzerland’s mountainside Burgenstock resort on Friday, the Swiss foreign ministry said.
Tehran and Washington announced Sunday they had agreed on a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict, which broke out on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran and engulfed the Middle East.
“At this stage, the signing is scheduled for Friday, June 19, at Burgenstock,” Switzerland’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The uber-plush resort, perched high above Lake Lucerne in central Switzerland, is difficult to access, with water on three sides, and therefore easily secured.
The location, the ministry said, “was proposed by the Pakistani and Qatari mediators, as well as by the US and Iran”.
“Switzerland is acting as a facilitator in this process, creating the practical and diplomatic conditions necessary for this meeting to take place on Swiss territory.”
The deal follows weeks of fraught negotiations and threats of renewed hostilities.
According to a senior US official, the framework agreement has already been signed electronically by US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Islamic republic’s top negotiator.
The text of the agreement has not been made public, leaving room for doubt over what specifically was agreed in the arduous negotiations to end the conflict.
The sides disagreed bitterly on terms around Iran’s nuclear programme, sanctions and the Strait of Hormuz.
But Vance told CNN it was “about a page and a half, so it is a very general document”.
Meanwhile, China’s top diplomat told his Pakistani counterpart on Tuesday that the next phase of negotiations between the United States and Iran — which Pakistan has helped mediate — will be “more difficult”.
In a phone conversation ahead of the planned signing on Friday of a US-Iran memorandum of understanding to end their war, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Pakistan’s Ishaq Dar that “it is foreseeable that, compared with the first stage, the second stage of negotiations will be more difficult”.
Wang added that the United Nations Security Council “should also play a greater role” in supporting these talks, according to a statement from Beijing’s foreign ministry.
“The current consensus is far from the final destination, rather it is a new starting point,” Wang said.
“Achieving lasting peace in the Middle East and Gulf region still requires unremitting efforts from all parties,” Wang said, adding that China was willing to work with Pakistan to promote peace.
By: AFP
