{"id":273200,"date":"2026-06-21T15:18:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T15:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/273200\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T15:18:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T15:18:20","slug":"vance-says-us-willing-to-fundamentally-transform-iran-relationship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/273200\/","title":{"rendered":"Vance says US willing to ‘fundamentally transform’ Iran relationship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vice President JD Vance declared that the Trump administration\u2019s goal is to \u201ctransform our relationship\u201d with Iran during his opening remarks in Switzerland at Sunday\u2019s meeting<\/a> with top negotiators from Tehran.<\/p>\n

Vance stressed that in order to do this, Washington needs ironclad commitments from the Islamic Republic to give up its aspirations of obtaining a nuclear weapon \u2014 something Tehran has long claimed it isn\u2019t pursuing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat 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 that says to the people of Iran that if your leadership is willing to give up being a driver of regional instability,\u201d Vance said.<\/p>\n

Vance shakes hands with Pakistan\u2019s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, left, as they meet for high-level talks at the Buergenstock Resort Lake Lucerne, near Stansstad, Switzerland. Nathan Howard\/Pool Reuters via AP<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they are willing to give up nuclear weapons ambitions for the long term, then the United States is willing to fundamentally transform our relationship with that country,\u201d he went on. \u201cThat is certainly our goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance\u2019s remarks came as the first round of talks with Iran under the memorandum of understanding<\/a> have kicked off in Switzerland. The talks had been delayed due to clashes between Israel and Hezbollah.<\/p>\n

The MOU\u00a0had\u00a0laid out a 14-point framework for peace between the US and\u00a0Iran while\u00a0allotting 60 days to hash out a more fleshed-out peace deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opening of the Strait of Hormuz, the ending of the Iranian nuclear\u00a0program,\u00a0all of these things have already been accomplished,\u201d Vance went on. \u201cThe question before us now\u00a0is, how\u00a0much more can we accomplish together?\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance makes an opening statement next to Pakistan\u2019s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (center) and Qatar\u2019s Prime Minister\u00a0and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani. POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cCan we turn over a new leaf? Can we change relations in the Middle East permanently? Or do we go back to doing things the old way, which is not our preference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s coverage on the latest in the peace deal with Iran:<\/p>\n

The vice president\u2019s public olive branch to Iran drew a sharp contrast with<\/a> President Trump\u2019s fiery rhetoric toward the regime. The commander-in-chief on Sunday threatened retaliation if Tehran closes the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly a fifth of the world\u2019s seaborne oil supply once flowed through annually.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Steve Witkoff and Pakistan\u2019s Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir greet each other next to Vance and Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner as they meet with Pakistan\u2019s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Trump claimed he spoke with Iranian officials\u00a0ahead of\u00a0Vance\u2019s meeting in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou close it, and you won\u2019t have a country,\u201d Trump told Fox News\u2019 chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst about his message to Iran. \u201cYou won\u2019t even make it back to your f\u2014ing country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s live coverage of President Trump and national politics for the latest news and analysis<\/a><\/p>\n

The president also ripped into\u00a0Iranian President\u00a0Masoud Pezeshkian for publicly declaring that \u201cwe will not give up our right to enrichment\u201d and that the US will \u201cbe forced to accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe better watch his mouth.\u00a0He\u00a0better shape up, or we\u2019ll take over the rest of the country,\u201d Trump told Fox News.<\/p>\n

Speaker of the Parliament of Iran, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (R) arrives at the Burgenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne on June 21, 2026. POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Trump described the MOU as a \u201c60-day option\u201d and stressed that he \u201ccan do whatever I want\u201d afterward, musing that the US could become the \u201cguardian angel\u201d of the Strait of Hormuz and charge tolls for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Trump also warned Iran to rein in Hezbollah.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran must immediately stop\u00a0their\u00a0highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don\u2019t, we\u2019ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!\u201d Trump\u00a0posted on\u00a0Truth Social<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vice President JD Vance declared that the Trump administration\u2019s goal is to \u201ctransform our relationship\u201d with Iran during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14670,72882,11749,9,11,10,87,34204,58],"class_list":["post-273200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-iran","tag-iran-deal","tag-jd-vance","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-politics","tag-switzerland","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}