Humeyra Pamuk, Dave Graham and Tala Ramadan
Updated June 22, 2026 — 9:26am, first published 5:59am
Buergenstock, Switzerland/Dubai: US President Donald Trump threatened to restart the war with Iran even as Vice President JD Vance met Iranian officials for the first talks under an interim peace deal, overshadowed by Tehran’s announcement that it had again closed the Strait of Hormuz.
The talks in the Qatari-owned Swiss mountaintop resort of Buergenstock on Sunday (Switzerland time) were the first to be held under the terms of a memorandum of understanding agreed a week ago.
US President Donald Trump sits in his limousine, known as The Beast, at Joint Base Andrews on Sunday. AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein It calls for the strait to be reopened and a halt to all hostilities, including in Lebanon, which US ally Israel invaded in March.
But Iran, arguing that Washington had failed to meet its commitment to halt fighting in Lebanon, said it had shut the strait again and that Sunday’s talks would not cover substantive issues such as Iran’s nuclear program.
“Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” Trump said on Truth Social, apparently referring to Iran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.
Fox News reported that Trump had gone further in an interview, saying he had told Iranian officials if they closed the strait “you won’t have a country”.
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner (left) and US Vice President JD Vance at the meeting be
Read More