Diplomacy and belligerence clashed in real time in Switzerland on Sunday, as Iran and the United States held face-to-face negotiations over the Middle East conflict. Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, arrived at the Bürgenstock Resort in Obbuergen for talks aimed at de-escalating hostilities.
But any fragile diplomatic progress was undercut by President Donald Trump, who issued a threatening message that prompted Tehran to call on Washington to “weigh its words.” Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, struck a markedly different tone, speaking publicly of progress in the negotiations. The dissonance between Vance’s optimism and Trump’s combative rhetoric left observers questioning the coherence of the American negotiating position. As Der Spiegel put it: “Then the American president intervened, and little remained of the diplomacy.”
