Vance says U.S. ready to 'transform' relationship with Iran if it ends nuclear program

Vice President J.D. Vance said Sunday the U.S. is willing to “fundamentally transform” its relationship with Iran if Tehran gives up its nuclear ambitions and stops instigating instability in the Middle East.

Mr. Vance is in Switzerland on Sunday for high-stakes talks aimed at ending the conflict between Washington and Tehran.

The vice president told reporters that the negotiators, including U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, have made “great progress” over the last few hours and that he expects even more as meetings continue with Iran.

“What the president has asked us to do is turn over a new leaf,  to transform our relationship with the people of Iran and to extend an outstretched hand,” Mr. Vance said.

Iran is represented in the talks with the U.S. by a high-level delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Negotiators are expected to hammer out the details of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, a 14-point framework agreement signed by the U.S. and Iran to end the war between the two nations. It was brokered primarily by Pakistan and signed last week by President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Switzerland, which is hosting the talks, has looked after U.S. interests in Iran since 1980, after Washington formally severed diplomatic relations in response to the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in November 1979.

“This long-standing role has contributed to maintaining a useful channel of communication between Washington and Tehran, even during difficult periods,”  Ignazcio Cassis, vice president of the Swiss Confederation, said in a statement. “The simple fact that the parties are present, that they are talking to each other, and that they are continuing this dialogue already constitutes a significant contribution to the implementation of the agreement.”