Talks due to take place on Friday between the US and Iran in Switzerland to implement a peace deal were cancelled as Hezbollah killed four Israeli soldiers and Israel carried out a wave of retaliatory airstrikes in south Lebanon and the Bekaa valley that killed at least 18 people.
The talks were to begin in the Swiss village of Obbürgen two days after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that opened a 60-day window to negotiate a permanent understanding over Iran’s nuclear programme, while getting oil traffic moving through the strait of Hormuz.
The White House said the US looked forward to “beginning technical talks as soon as possible”, as it announced that JD Vance, who is leading negotiations for the Trump administration, would now not be travelling.
“The logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable. As of now the vice-president is not departing tonight,” a White House spokesperson said late on Thursday. The cancellation of the talks came as Israel and Hezbollah traded their most violent strikes since the ceasefire was established.
Hezbollah targeted Israeli forces near the city of Nabatieh, south Lebanon, with several salvoes of rocket fire and drones overnight on Friday after intermittent Israeli shelling throughout the day. Israel responded with a wave of airstrikes on the city and surrounding towns on what it said were Hezbollah targets, leaving at least 18 dead and 33 wounded, according to Lebanon’s ministry of health.
Hezbollah said it was targeting Israeli forces that were trying to advance towards the foothills surrounding Nabatieh – a flashpoint which has seen intermittent fighting since the US-Iran ceasefire was announced. Prior to the truce, Israeli forces were advancing towards the southern Lebanese city.
The killing of Israeli soldiers prompted fury within Israel, with the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, calling for scorched earth in Lebanon.
“With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not up for bargaining. All of Lebanon must burn,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement.
The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, called on Israel on Friday to stop its strikes in Lebanon and said that the US must pressure it to respect the ceasefire deal.
“This agreement provides for a cessation of hostilities, the Israeli government must respect it, and the United States in particular must exert all the necessary pressure on the Israeli government to ensure that this is the case,” Barrot said on France Info radio.
The cancellation of the talks between Iran and the US on Friday came so abruptly, that Vance’s staff and a small pack of journalists had even gathered at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington in anticipation of the trip. Dozens of White House officials, advance staffers and media were already in Switzerland to prepare for Vance’s anticipated arrival.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said on Thursday that he had approved the MOU despite reservations, while at the same time, the US officially lifted a blockade of Iranian ports.
But before the talks were cancelled, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said that Iranian negotiators needed to see signs of implementation of the interim agreement from the US before the next rounds of peace talks could begin, and that there was no confirmation that its delegation would travel to Geneva.
The cancellation of the talks came after a report from Al Mayadeen, an Arabic language network that is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, that said Tehran was delaying sending its delegation to Switzerland owing to Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon.
Israel, which was not included in the peace talks and has distanced itself from the US-Iran agreement, has continued its fighting in Lebanon and launched fresh airstrikes early on Friday, accusing Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire, an accusation the armed group has thrown back at Israel.
Hezbollah said on Friday that its fighters destroyed three Israeli tanks in the country’s south and that clashes were “ongoing”. Israel had not confirmed its tanks were hit.
Fighting began in Lebanon on 2 March when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in what it said was revenge for the killing of Iran’s former supreme leader by the US and Israel. The subsequent Israeli invasion of south Lebanon and bombing campaign has left more than 3,900 people dead in Lebanon. Hezbollah has killed at least 32 Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 3 Israeli civilians.
On Thursday, Israel announced what it called its “security zone” in south Lebanon, which comprises hundreds of square miles of Lebanese territory. Lebanese officials have demanded a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, something Iran said is required by the MOU it has agreed with the US.
The MOU calls for the “permanent termination” of the war in Lebanon and for the country’s “territorial integrity and sovereignty” to be ensured. The US president, Donald Trump, has said he expects a complete ceasefire on all fronts.
Israel has so far insisted it will not pull out its troops from south Lebanon, leading to open criticism from Trump and Vance. On Thursday, Vance said Israel needed to respect the peace process.
“What the president has grown frustrated with at times, is that we seem to be right on the cusp of a major breakthrough in the agreement, and then all of a sudden, there’s a major explosion that goes off in a civilian population centre in Beirut, and a lot of people who have nothing to do with Hezbollah lose their lives,” Vance told reporters, adding that such actions were “not acceptable”.
On Friday, Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned against any breach of the agreement, saying “in case of misconduct, breach of treaty and excess of the other side, we have no doubt that decisive response will be given to the enemy.”
The diplomatic back-and-forth over the planned talks adds to the uncertainty over whether a lasting truce can be found to a regional war that has killed at least 7,000 people, sent energy prices soaring and shaken global markets.
Khamenei on Thursday said Trump had signed the deal “out of desperation” and signalled that further talks would not be easy.
“If the American side wants to be too demanding, we will not accept it,” he said in a written message. The deal gives negotiators 60 days to reach agreement on the status of Iran’s nuclear programme unless both sides agree to an extension, and set up a $300bn reconstruction fund for Iran and other financial incentives.
On Thursday, US forces lifted their naval blockade of Iranian ports that had prevented ships from sailing to or from the country, the US military said, noting that American warships “will remain in the general area”.
Activity was still muted in the strait of Hormuz, the strategic bottleneck for energy shipments that Iran blockaded during the conflict.
