JD Vance Heads to Switzerland, As Peace Talks Over the MOU and Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Continue

RedState 

On Saturday, Vice President JD Vance departed on Air Force Two for Switzerland, to be a part of the negotiations with the Iranian leaders to solidify the terms of the end of the Iran conflict in the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) and to further shore up the tentative ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. According to VP Vance, special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have been on the ground in Switzerland in preparation for the talks to resume on Sunday.

The vice president addressed the press briefly before boarding, and answered a few questions about what the Switzerland trip might entail.

VANCE: We're about to take up talks with the Iranians, the Pakistanis, and the Qataris. Our understanding is that the Iranians just landed. The Qataris and Pakistanis and some of our technical negotiators have been on the ground. So, look, you know, we'll have a couple of days of talks, we're gonna get this thing kicked off in the right way. There's a lot to discuss, but we're gonna get through it all.

As RedState reported, due to the bombing between Israel and Hezbollah which appeared to signal a breaking of the tentative ceasefire, Iran postponed the talks originally scheduled for Friday, and threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz. 

The reporter asked about what work the U.S. planned to do to ensure the ceasefire would hold.

REPORTER: The fighting in Lebanon seems to continue to threaten to upend the entire process. What does the U.S. plan to do about that?

VANCE: Well, [Secretary of State] Marco [Rubio] and the entire team have been actively managing what's going on in Lebanon. Despite the headlines, things are actually getting better there, things have calmed down a little bit. It's going to be something we're just going to have to continuously manage, to ensure that, you know, Israel and Lebanon are both safe and secure. That's fundamentally the goal of this, is to make the whole region safe and secure.

The big problem is that you have, somebody will shoot, and somebody will respond, and you kind of have a chicken-and-egg problem, where you just got to stop the shooting for long enough to get the ceasefire to keep hold. That's what we're gonna try to do. We'll keep on working at it, but things have gotten better.

The reporter than asked Vance about the specifics of his schedule in Switzerland. 

REPORTER: What would make this a successful trip for you?

VANCE: Well, I think number one, just getting things set up in the right way, and getting the actual structure of negotiation in place. So, the way we're going to do this is we're going to have principal level political leadership at the top, and obviously the technical team is going to stay on the ground. As much as I might like to stay, in what appears to be a beautiful place, I can only be there for a day or two. I think we can hopefully make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue, those are the two big things that I think we're going to be focused on. I'm sure the Iranians are going to have issues they'd like to discuss as well.

WATCH:

As RedState further reported, spokesman for U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOMM) Capt. Tim Hawkins affirmed earlier on Saturday, “Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. Traffic continues to flow, and U.S. forces are monitoring the situation to ensure this remains the case.”