Bürgenstock - United States' (U.S.) and Iranian delegations opened technical-level negotiations at the Bürgenstock resort near Lucerne, Switzerland on Sunday, 21 June 2026, mediated by Pakistan and Qatar, to begin implementing a 14-point memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed days earlier by U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that's aimed at permanently ending their war.
Iran's delegation, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf alongside Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and other senior officials, arrived in Switzerland after the talks were pushed back from Friday, 19 June when Tehran failed to send its team amid continued Israeli strikes over Lebanon.
U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance arrived on Sunday in Switzerland to join the negotiations, in which U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner were already working through technical details.
(Technical meetings between U.S. and Iran with Pakistan and Qatar as mediators and Switzerland as the host of the agenda titled Lake Lucerne Summit, as the meeting spot is a resort facing the lake, held on Sunday, 21 June 2026 (Photo/X/Hasni Abidi))
The memorandum, dubbed the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, declares the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and commits both sides to negotiate a final deal within 60 days, extendable by mutual consent.
Under its terms, Washington is to begin lifting its naval blockade on Iran immediately and ending it fully within 30 days, while Tehran arranges safe, toll-free passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz during the same window.
The document also outlines a phased end to all U.S. and UN sanctions, a mechanism to dispose of Iran's stockpiled enriched uranium under International Atomic Energy Agency supervision, and a U.S.-backed reconstruction package worth at least US$300 billion contingent on a final agreement.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir also have arrived to join the Sunday talks as mediator, alongside Qatari officials, with Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani has arrived with his entourage and held a bilateral meeting with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on Saturday, 20 June.
A diplomat told CBS News that Iran's delegation secured an emergency session on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon as the opening agenda item of the talks, despite neither Israel, Hezbollah nor the Lebanese government being party to the negotiations — a reflection of Tehran's insistence that fighting in Lebanon be addressed before substantive talks on other issues proceed.
