Iran walks out of peace talks after Trump outburst

 Iranian negotiators walked out of peace talks with the US after Donald Trump said he would “blow the s--- out of them” and take over their country.

As JD Vance, his vice-president, began negotiations in Switzerland, Mr Trump threatened to restart his bombing campaign on Iran, in expletive-laden phone calls and posts on social media.

Iran immediately lodged a formal complaint with Pakistani and Qatari mediators and left the talks.

Chief negotiator Mohammed Ghalibaf said the US should be careful with its statements and that “our armed forces are ready to respond”.

Earlier, Mr Vance said the US hoped to “turn over a new leaf” with the Islamic Republic, and said that they had made “great progress”.

Despite the tense start, talks concluded early on Monday, with negotiators agreeing on a roadmap towards a final deal.

“The High Level Committee has agreed upon a roadmap towards reaching a final deal within 60 days, laying the foundation for the immediate commencement of further technical talks,” mediators Pakistan and Qatar said in a joint statement on Monday.

“Technical talks will continue for the remainder of the week at the Burgenstock resort on all issues.”

The talks in the scenic Qatari-owned Swiss mountain resort of Burgenstock were the first to be held after a memorandum of understanding was signed between Washington and Tehran last week.

Under the terms of that deal, the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened and there would be a ceasefire “on all fronts”, including Lebanon.

However, Hezbollah and Israel continued attacking each other and Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the Strait of Hormuz shut.

On Sunday, Mr Trump revealed that he told Iranian officials: “You close the strait and you won’t have a country.

“You won’t even make it back to your f---ing country ... we’ll take over the rest of the country,” he added, according to Fox News.

“We may take over the strait, if we have to. I’ll blow the s--- out of them.”

He then said on Truth Social: “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!”

The Iranian delegation to the talks was led by chief negotiator Mohammad Ghalibaf and included Abbas Araqchi, the foreign minister, as well as senior security, central bank and oil officials.

They refused to pose for photographs with their US counterparts and then left the talks after Mr Trump’s comments. Later, Iran said talks had “paused” but not ended.

“We do not take American threats into account,” said Mr Ghalibaf, after Mr Trump’s outburst.

“They would do better to be careful with their statements; our armed forces are ready to respond to them in a different manner. No matter what they say, we are the ones who act.”

In addition to Mr Vance, the US negotiating team included envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law.

Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and the army chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, were also in Switzerland to participate in this weekend’s sessions as mediators, alongside a Qatari delegation.

“The question is, can 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 but is certainly something that can happen,” Mr Vance said.

It is understood that talks never even reached the stage of discussing Iran’s nuclear programme. Instead, Iran insisted on ensuring the memorandum of understanding was implemented properly.