STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Vice President Vance is delaying his trip to Switzerland to negotiate the terms of a peace agreement with Iran.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Vance and a delegation from Iran were scheduled to meet in Lucerne. The presidents of the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum this week. It sends benefits to Iran but is only a first step toward a comprehensive deal. In a few moments, we'll discuss these developments with veteran American diplomat Richard Haass. We begin with the latest from Switzerland.
INSKEEP: NPR's Rob Schmitz made it to Lucerne, even though the vice president did not yet. Rob, hi there.
ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE: Hey there, Steve.
INSKEEP: It seemed like negotiators were on this accelerated schedule. They signed the preliminary deal early. They were going to dive right in and talk. Why are they now delaying?
SCHMITZ: A senior U.S. official told NPR that Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire, but the fighting is still ongoing. And just this morning, Lebanon's health ministry said at least 47 people had been killed in overnight strikes, while the Israeli military said 4 of its soldiers had been killed in southern Lebanon. Now, Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has made it clear that Israeli forces in southern Lebanon intend to stay there. Members of Netanyahu's Cabinet have called this deal, quote, "bad for Israel," and Vance said this in response yesterday.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JD VANCE: Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. And he happens to be the head of state of the world's superpower. If I was in the Cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.
INSKEEP: Really rare for an American official to publicly dress down Israel like that, which says things we could maybe discuss about politics in America, but also about the pressure on Vance.
SCHMITZ: Yeah. And he's obviously in a very difficult position here. And yesterday, he appeared defensive when he was pressed about the details of the agreement with Iran. Vance said, quote, "we don't trust words."
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
VANCE: We trust action, and we trust conduct. And so we're going to reward conduct, and we're not going to reward any words, whether they're written on a sheet of paper or not. There's a lot of discussion. The MOU, the gentlemen's agreement, the final deal. Words don't matter, ladies and gentlemen. We're about verification.
SCHMITZ: And, Steve, you know, some might question here that if the Trump administration doesn't trust words, why sign an agreement in the first place? When President Trump was asked at the G7 summit in France what he would do should Iran not adhere to the agreement, here's what he said.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We're going to bomb the hell out of them if they violate the agreement.
INSKEEP: How did Iran respond to that, Rob?
SCHMITZ: So Iran's speaker of parliament shot back at Trump this morning in a post on X, saying that if there is a breach of the agreement, Iran will, quote, "have no hesitation in delivering a crushing response to the enemy." And it should be noted here that the very first article of the agreement promises that both sides will cease all military operations.
INSKEEP: They're supposed to cease military operations. They are supposed to spend 60 days negotiating, but I guess here on Day 1 or 2 or 3, or whatever this is, they're not going to be talking.
SCHMITZ: Yeah, that's right. And here we are in Switzerland, waiting for a peace deal. You know, across this beautiful Alpine lake from me here in Lucerne, the Swiss government has taken a range of security measures to host this event, and there are hundreds of journalists here to record it. But for now, Iran's foreign ministry said the signing ceremony was off, and the White House said in a statement that the plans for the upcoming technical talks have not been finalized. Neither side is here. They're threatening to strike each other, and this agreement appears to be on very shaky ground.
INSKEEP: NPR's Rob Schmitz is in lovely Lucerne, Switzerland. Thanks so much, Rob.
SCHMITZ: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
