The US and Iran are preparing to begin the first round of negotiations aimed at securing a lasting peace agreement within 60 days, with mediators remaining hopeful that the serenity of Burgenstock will help ease the complex talks.
The first round of talks had been due to start on Friday, but the Swiss foreign ministry announced a postponement. It gave no new date, time or reason, suggesting the negotiations had hit an early hurdle before they had even got under way.
The Swiss luxury resort is more accustomed to hosting celebrities but is set to welcome a different kind of star power when diplomats seek to build on a fragile memorandum of understanding signed this week.
A signing ceremony had been planned in Switzerland, but the US and Iran ultimately signed the MoU separately. Mediators insisted on gathering at Burgenstock anyway, a sign that the race against the clock to turn the fragile agreement into a lasting peace deal has already begun.
“The planned talks between the US, Iran, Qatar and Pakistan have been postponed. Switzerland remains ready to facilitate these talks. The relevant preparatory work at Burgenstock is continuing,” the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs told The National.
US Vice President JD Vance, who had been expected to represent Washington at the ceremony, is no longer travelling to Switzerland as initially scheduled, the White House said late on Thursday.
A checkpoint has been set up a few metres from the Burgenstock Resort, allowing only selected people with private accreditation. At noon on Friday, journalists gathered near the checkpoint waiting for updates and hoping to gain access.
The National was at the scene as reporters waited for any sign that the delayed talks would proceed. Diplomatic vehicles with identification numbers displayed in their windows shuttled up and down the winding road leading to the secluded five-star mountain resort.
Butgenstock can also be reached by its electric funicular railway, which carries visitors up from the shores of Lake Lucerne, but the service was suspended as security measures around the talks were tightened.
The 14-point agreement lays out a broad ceasefire across several fronts, including Lebanon, as well as sanctions relief for Iran, the unfreezing of its assets and the creation of a reconstruction fund.
It includes Iranian commitments not to pursue nuclear weapons and to place portions of its enriched uranium stockpile under International Atomic Energy Agency supervision for monitoring and “down-blending” on site, a compromise that stops short of the removal of material sought by Washington.
The MoU, however, leaves several key issues unresolved, including Iran's ballistic missile programme, its support for regional militias and proxy groups, the future of uranium enrichment and the fate of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran, which attacked its Gulf neighbours during the war, moved quickly to present the agreement as a victory. State media released photographs of what is believed to be the first accord signed by both a US president and an Iranian president since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
In Washington, the Trump administration also sought to claim success, presenting the agreement as the culmination of its military operation and the first step towards a more comprehensive deal that must be reached within two months.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Mr Vance cast the agreement that ended the months-long war with Iran not as a concession, but as a deal negotiated from a position of military and political leverage.
He was repeatedly pressed on how the arrangement differed from the 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated under former president Barack Obama, which Mr Trump had long criticised and later abandoned.
“There is no $300 billion payment to Iran by the US. That’s fake news!” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social. “All there is for the US is success, lower oil prices and victory. Check out the stock market.”
He described the $300 billion news as Democrat “propaganda”.
Step towards de-escalation
In the deal, the US agreed to undertake, “with regional partners”, the development of a mutually agreed plan with at least $300 billion “for the reconstruction and economic development” of Iran.
The complexity of the agreement and the many questions it leaves unanswered mean that the talks at Burgenstock are likely to be as difficult as ever, despite the area's serenity.
Perched high above Lake Lucerne in the central canton of Nidwalden, the Burgenstock resort is one of the country's most exclusive destinations, surrounded by alpine forests and sweeping mountain views.
The Swiss government said access to the venue during the talks would be strictly limited to delegates from the participating countries, mainly the US, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar. Even media access will be tightly controlled, with only a small number of journalists from those countries expected to receive accreditation.
“Peace and security in the Middle East are a priority of Swiss foreign policy,” it added. “Switzerland welcomes the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran, facilitated by Pakistan with the support of Qatar and other states, as an important step towards de-escalation,” it added.
