Iranian negotiators walked out of peace talks in Switzerland on Sunday after Donald Trump threatened to "blow the s--- out of them" and take over their country, in a fresh crisis that threatens to unravel the fragile US-Iran ceasefire.
The walkout came hours after Vice President JD Vance had announced "great progress" in negotiations at the Bürgenstock mountain resort, the first face-to-face talks since a memorandum of understanding was signed last week. Iranian chief negotiator Mohammad Ghalibaf said the US should be careful with its statements and that "our armed forces are ready to respond".
“Iran walks out of peace talks after Trump threatens to 'blow the s--- out of them' and take over Iran.”
Tehran had already declared the Strait of Hormuz closed on Saturday, blaming Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon that killed at least 32 people — despite Israel signing a new ceasefire with Hezbollah the previous day. The closure was a direct breach of the ceasefire deal, which guaranteed safe, toll-free passage through the key waterway for 60 days pending a final nuclear settlement.
Trump responded with a profanity-filled tirade to Fox News. "You close the strait and you won't have a country," he said he told Iranian officials. "You won't even make it back to your f* country … we'll take over the rest of the country." He added on Truth Social: "We may take over the Strait, if we have to. I'll blow the s--- out of them."
The president demanded Iran "immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble", warning: "If they don't, we'll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!"
Iranian negotiators refused to pose for photographs with US counterparts and lodged a formal complaint with Pakistani and Qatari mediators before leaving. The delegation, led by Ghalibaf and including foreign minister Abbas Araqchi, accused the US of violating the ceasefire by failing to stop Israeli attacks on Lebanon — a demand that was part of the peace deal.
Israel is not party to the US-Iran accord and has vowed to continue hitting Hezbollah. On Friday, Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for Israel to "burn all of Lebanon", declaring "for every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep". Trump has been unable to curb such rhetoric, while his own advisers reportedly view Israel's assault into Lebanon as an effort to sabotage the ceasefire talks.
Vance, who had hoped to "turn over a new leaf" with Tehran, now faces the prospect of the talks collapsing entirely. Former president Barack Obama told NBC it seemed the US was "worse off" now than before Trump launched the war against Iran in February. "We've now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars … a lot of people have died," he said. "And it feels like…"