JD Vance says US-Iran deal very general with many details yet to be negotiated – Middle East crisis live

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 difficultâ€.

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 difficultâ€.

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.

A US-Iran deal aimed at ending the Middle East war will be signed at Switzerland's mountainside Burgenstock resort on Friday, the Swiss foreign ministry confirmed to AFP.

The site, located near Lucerne in central Switzerland, is difficult to access and therefore easily secured. It “was proposed by the Pakistani and Qatari mediators, as well as by the US and Iranâ€, Switzerland's foreign ministry said.

It had previously been reported that the signing would take place in Geneva.

An Iranian deputy foreign minister on Tuesday said the two-month US naval blockade on Iranian ports had been lifted ahead of the planned formal signing of a deal ending the war.

“The lifting of the blockade was something we had emphasised from the outset. It has now begun, and the blockade has been lifted prior to the formal signing†scheduled for Friday, said Iranian deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi, according to the government's website.

Yesterday's bilateral talks between Donald Trump and French president Emmanuel Macron were “a bit tenseâ€, a European Union official has told NBC News.

“Trump is being his usual self, nice sometimes and not so nice sometimes,†the official said, adding that the US president was dismissive of EU support following the Iran framework agreement – saying he didn't need Europe's help.

Trump and Macron are due to dine tomorrow at the Palace of Versailles. This was the “‘shiny' object he needed to come to Franceâ€, the EU official said of Trump, but “whether this will keep him happy remains to be seenâ€.

Hezbollah, the Iranian backed Lebanese militant group and political party, said it has received assurances from Iran that Tehran will not sign a final nuclear deal with the US unless Israel withdraws from Lebanon, Hezbollah's media relations office has told the Reuters news agency.

Trump said that he would send the deal with Iran to the US Congress for a review. “I like the idea, send it to Congress please,†he said at the start of a meeting with the UAE president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the G7 summit. “I mean who wouldn't approve it.â€

The absence of the details of the memorandum of understanding with Iran has led to bipartisan scrutiny on Capitol Hill about what the agreement might contain and how favourable the terms are to the US.

Republicans on Capitol Hill say they want Trump to provide more information, with some expressing skepticism that the deal can deter Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon. James Lankford, a Republican senator, said: “If you want a deal to last, it can't be an executive agreement.†“We've got to have a vote of Congress to be able to solidify (it) long term.â€

“I ‌think it's going to go pretty quickly,†Trump told reporters about the next phase of ​negotiations with Iran, stipulated with a 60-day deadline.

“Iran wants to get it done. They have to get back to business, and the relationship is now normalised, so I think â it's going to go pretty quickly,†Trump told reporters ​during his ​meeting with Mohamed bin Zayed ​Al Nahyan, the president of the United ​Arab Emirates, on ‌the sidelines ​of the ​G7.

“Could go faster, could take longer too, but it could go fast.“

Speaking at the G7, US president Donald Trump has said the strait of Hormuz will be open by Friday and that the full text of the peace deal will be released in a “formal settingâ€.

Trump also said he expects the “second stage†of the deal “to go quicklyâ€.

He added that the main outcome from the MOU is that Iran will “never have a nucelar weapon†and that he will go over the deal with the media “in a couple of daysâ€.

He earlier told reporters this morning that he had a “great relationship†with Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, but said he “has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanonâ€.

“Without me there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did,†he told reporters.

Iranian state television said that Iranian oil tankers and other vessels had resumed shipping following a deal with Washington, in what appeared to be an easing of a US naval blockade.

“Three Iranian oil tankers are currently sailing in the northern Indian Ocean, and two others carrying essential goods and livestock feed are en route and sailing towards southern ports,†said a state television reporter from a site in the strait of Hormuz.

He added that “the operation to lift the naval blockade has been implementedâ€, in reference to the US measure in place since April.

Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Lebanon, where some people displaced by the Israeli assault on the country are cautiously making their way home after news of the initial US-Iran deal:

Qatar, a key mediator between the US and Iran, said it believed the framework peace agreement could deliver security to the Middle East.

“We are cautiously optimistic that the signing of the memorandum of understanding will lead to the next phase of regional security through the talks that will take place on the nuclear programme and on other issues,†foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari told reporters in Doha, as he praised Pakistan's mediation efforts.

“We are on the right track now towards regional security. Obviously, there are a lot of challenges coming ahead, but let's take this as a moment to enjoy some optimism,†he said.

“We are talking about various issues: the strait of Hormuz, regional security and non-aggression, and good neighbourly relations between this region and Iran,†he added.

“We're talking about, of course, the nuclear program but also other issues regarding proxies and missiles and other issues that have played prominent in the region for decades. These will not be resolved in mere days.â€

According to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA), Lebanon's president, Joseph Aoun, and the country's prime minister, Nawaf Salam, stressed the need for a permanent ceasefire in Lebanon, the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from territory in the south, the return of Lebanese prisoners and the deployment of the Lebanese army to “internationally recognised bordersâ€.

Aoun and Salam described the US–Iran memorandum of understanding as a “positive step†toward de-escalation across the region.

Their meeting, at Baabda Palace, also focused on “preparations†for the next round of talks between Israel and Lebanon due to take place in Washington next week, according to the NNA. Hezbollah is not party to these negotiations.

The militant group, which has been funded and supported by Iran for decades, has welcomed the US-Iran agreement but warned that it ‌would not accept any attacks ​that violated Lebanon's sovereignty or targeted its â people.

Trump says that Iran has “rational†leadership now because of the US-Israeli attacks on the country that killed senior Iranian figures. This is untrue because Iran's powerful hardliners are now energised by a three-month confrontation they feel Tehran has won.

Despite his obvious irritation with Netanyahu, Trump said his relationship with the Israeli leader is a “very effective†one. He said their relationship is “unbelievable†– but made a point of saying that Israel would not exist without his support.

The US president said Lebanon has been “treated the worst†out of “all countries†as they “can't defend themselves†and they are having to deal with Hezbollah, which he said is a “problem for themâ€.

Trump told reporters:

No, I am not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah. They should have been able to do the job faster. It just goes on forever and when that happens it throws a negative light on the big deal – and that is the deal with Iran.

In unusually frank remarks, Trump seems to acknowledge the fact that Israel has been killing many civilians in its attacks on Lebanon that it claims are only targeting Hezbollah. He told reporters:

Israel's fighting Hezbollah too long and too many people are being killed. And you don't have to knock down an apartment house every time you are looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses and they are not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you.

And I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah because to be honest with you I think they will do a better job of doing it.

Trump said he didn't “like†that Israel attacked the Lebanese capital of Beirut – not the “southern side†– shortly before the deal with Iran was signed. “I let them know that. I didn't like it – not at all,†Trump said.

“If Israel can't do the job, without killing everyone else, he'll do the job, Syria will do the job,' Trump said, referring to Syrian president, Ahmed al Sharaa, whom he has good relations with.

During Syria's civil war that broke out in 2011, Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters to help Bashar al-Assad stay in power. They remained until Sharaa's Islamist rebel forces toppled the longtime ruler in December 2024. Sharaa is the former leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the rebel group that led the military operation to topple Assad.

Trump said Sharaa “is very good with Hezbollah†and “does not like themâ€. “He's been very good for me. He's protected everything that I have asked for,†he said, referring to Sharaa.

Trump also said he had a “great relationship†with Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, but said he “has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanonâ€.

“Without me there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did,†he told reporters.

Donald Trump also said he considers Israel's war on Lebanon a “minor†one and believes his deal with Iran can survive even if Israeli attacks continue.

“I consider that the minor war,†Trump said. “Iran's the big one, but we have that little pinprick out there that constantly rears its head and that's Hezbollahâ€.

Iran does not agree with Trump's assessment as it is increasingly asserting that continued Israeli attacks in Lebanon will violate its agreement with the US, and has sought to characterise the US and Israel as one entity in this respect.

In his comments to reporters, Donald Trump also warned that “all hell will rain down†on Iran if it tries to get a nuclear weapon.

“The only â thing that ​really ‌matters to ‌me is Iran ‌will never have a nuclear weapon, and it says it loud and ‌clear,†he said, referring to the agreement with Tehran.

As my colleague Graham Russell notes in this useful explainer, Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful and has not publicly committed to giving up the enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under three nuclear sites that were badly damaged by US strikes last year.

Trump faces significant political pressure to secure a better deal on this issue than the one he scuppered during his first term. He withdrew the US from a 2015 multilateral Iran deal, negotiated by Barack Obama, that lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program, including international inspections.

Iran responded by ramping up its enrichment of uranium, producing more than 400kg of material at close to bomb-grade purity. The eventual fate of that uranium is likely to be a key negotiating point during â the upcoming broader talks.

We have some comments from Donald Trump who has been speaking to reporters at the G7 summit.

According to the Reuters news agency, the US president said the deal with Iran was â going to a “second stage†and said Washington was not investing any money in Iran as part of the agreement.

“We have our deal done with Iran, and it ‌should be successful, it goes to ​a second stage, which I think would â be actually easier,†he told journalists.