Switzerland announced Friday that planned talks following up on the deal to end the Middle East war had been postponed, hours after US Vice-President JD Vance's departure for the Alpine country was cancelled.
The signing of the accord this week was intended to end the conflict in Iran, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin a 60-day period for talks on wider issues, including Tehran's nuclear programme.
At the same time, the deal was to halt the fighting in Lebanon, but Israel's military announced on Friday new strikes against Hezbollah targets in the nation's south.
"The planned talks between the US, Iran, Qatar and Pakistan have been postponed," the Swiss foreign ministry said in a message to AFP. "Switzerland remains ready to facilitate these talks. The relevant preparatory work at Burgenstock is continuing," it added, without providing a new date for the talks.
It followed the announcement late Thursday from the White House that Vance's trip was cancelled, with a spokesperson saying the "logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable."
"We look forward to beginning technical talks as soon as possible."
In Iran, the Tasnim agency had said "nothing has been confirmed" about the Iranian delegation's trip to Switzerland.
The agreement has been signed separately by US President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that he had approved the accord, despite reservations, even as the United States lifted a blockade of Iranian ports.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who took over after his father and longstanding ruler Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war on February 28, said in a written statement that he held a "different view" on the deal, without elaborating.
"But I issued my permission due to the commitment" made by officials including Pezeshkian to "protect the rights of the Iranian nation".
"Face-to-face negotiations" with the United States will be held in the future, but that does not "mean accepting the enemy's point of view", he added.
Vance warns Israel against criticizing US-Iran deal
US Vice-President JD Vance on Thursday issued an extraordinary rebuke to Israeli critics of the Iran deal, warning them not to alienate their "only powerful ally" left in the world.
Vance told members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet to "wake up and smell the reality," amid growing tensions between Netanyahu and President Trump.
"Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time, and he happens to be the head of state of the world superpower," Vance told reporters in a briefing at the White House.
"If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world."
Vance credited Netanyahu for not personally criticizing the deal, but explicitly raised the huge amounts of military aid that the United States gives Israel, its key ally in the Middle East.
The two countries jointly launched the war on Iran on February 28 but Trump has chastised Israel for continuing attacks on Lebanon that threatened to derail the deal with Tehran.
"Over the last three months, two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars," Vance added.
"The problem for Israel is not Donald J. Trump -- and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation."
In an interview with the New York Times published Thursday, Vance directly named Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as having attacked the deal.
"I guess my response to them would be -- what is your exact proposal? You're a country of nine million people. You can't just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have," Vance told the Times.
Trump himself has been increasingly critical of the high death toll from Israeli attacks, particularly on the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
"When two drones are shot into the desert and drop harmlessly, you don’t have to knock down buildings in Beirut. They could behave better, and frankly they could do a better job," Trump said in a press conference at the G7 summit in France on Wednesday.
Trump on Thursday urged Israel and other Middle Eastern countries to stick to the truce. "We expect a complete ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Trump said on his Truth Social network.
On Friday, Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that Tehran would give a "decisive" response if the agreement was breached.
France urges Israel to 'respect' ceasefire
France on Friday urged Israel to "respect" a deal signed between the United States and Iran to end the Middle East war, the French foreign minister said after overnight Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.
"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," Jean-Noel Barrot said on FranceInfo radio.
ایران ڈیل کی وجہ امریکہ اور اسرائیل کے تعلقات میں کافی بدمزگی آئی ہے جے ڈی وینس نے اسرائیلی کابینہ کے وزیروں کو کھری کھری سنا دیں کہا تمھاری حفاظت کے لئے جو دو تہائی اسلحہ وہ امریکہ کا بنایا اور امریکی ٹیکس کے پیسوں سے تھا
— RAShahzaddk (@RShahzaddk) June 18, 2026
گل ودھ گئ جے pic.twitter.com/3NHIgP9liX
- 'Maybe they start fighting again' -
American forces on Thursday lifted their naval blockade of Iranian ports that had prevented ships from sailing to or from the Islamic republic, 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.
Three Saudi oil tankers left the Gulf through the strait on Thursday, maritime trackers said, as did a French vessel loaded with liquified natural gas.
Iranian state TV, citing a statement from the country's Supreme National Security Council, said that ships "seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz must submit their request" to a new government body tasked with overseeing the waterway.
In keeping with the terms of the deal, it added, "no fees whatsoever will be collected from applicants for a period of sixty days".
The deal should bring an end to the current US-Israeli conflict with Iran, which saw five weeks of all-out war until a ceasefire was struck in early April.
But some in Tehran were downbeat at the prospects for peace.
"I have no hope that this is a lasting agreement. Maybe after the 60 days they start fighting again," said Mina, 54, a psychologist from Tehran.
Her sentiment was shared by French President Emmanuel Macron, who presided over the signing at the Palace of Versailles in what he described as a "spontaneous" move by Trump.
Macron said "he did not believe" that the war was "totally finished".
Under the text, Washington commits to immediately waive oil sanctions crippling Iran's economy.
And once a final agreement is reached on Iran's nuclear programme, the United States will facilitate the release of a $300 billion reconstruction fund supported by regional nations, the deal says.
- 'What does that get us?' -
Trump's decision to end the war, in which 13 US service members were killed and a vast proportion of US ammunition stockpiles was used, has unsettled some of his allies at home.
US Senator Bill Cassidy from Trump's Republican Party described it as the "worst foreign policy blunder in decades".
In an interview with Axios, Trump argued that using military force to wring more concessions out of Tehran would have been counterproductive.
"The only way I can get tougher is if I go in there for another two or three weeks and continue to bomb the hell out of 'em. Right? But what does that get us? The Strait of Hormuz will not be open," Trump said.
"We wouldn't have oil for months," he said. "This is the kind of thing that could cause a worldwide depression."
There has also been some criticism from hardliners within Iran, where the conflict was described as an "imposed war" and compared to the 1980-1988 conflict with Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
But parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf insisted the deal represented a US "failure", while Pezeshkian called it "historic".
Hormuz crossings hit highest level since mid-April
A total of 25 commercial vessels crossed the newly-reopened Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, the highest number since mid-April, according to data from maritime tracking firm AXSMarine published on Friday.
After an agreement was struck to reopen the strait, it saw the highest single-day figure since April 18, when Iran briefly reopened the global trade artery to commercial traffic.
US talks bound by Tehran's 'red lines'
Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Friday that talks with the United States would remain bound by Tehran's "red lines".
"As we have shown in the past path of negotiations, we are steadfast in fulfilling the conditions and red lines set, and in achieving the interests of the Iranian nation," Ghalibaf said in remarks published by the official IRNA news agency.
"If the enemy seeks to be excessive, we have proven that our fingers are on the trigger and we have no hesitation in giving a crushing response to the enemy."
Tehran and Washington signed a memorandum of understanding this week ending a regional war that erupted on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Ghalibaf's remarks came after Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said he had approved the US-Iran deal despite having a "different view" on the matter, without elaborating.
In a message read out on state television, Khamenei said that direct talks with the United States "will not mean accepting the enemy's point of view".
In response to Khamenei's message, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the country's foreign policy apparatus "will be used to secure the sublime interests of Iran" and "protect the rights of the noble Iranian nation".
President Masoud Pezeshkian, who signed the deal on behalf of his country, issued a similar statement promising to adhere to Iran's red lines and defend its "dignity, honour and authority".
The US-Iran deal, which US President Donald Trump also signed, lays the groundwork for detailed 60-day negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme and sanctions relief.
It remains unclear when talks for a final settlement would start after a first meeting in Switzerland slated for Friday was postponed.
The agreement provides for an end to the Middle East war on all fronts, including Lebanon, the lifting of the two-month US naval blockade on Iranian ports, and Tehran's reopening of the Strait of Hormuz "with no charge for 60 days only".
It also includes an Iranian commitment not to procure or develop nuclear weapons -- an ambition Tehran has consistently denied pursuing.
Conservatives in Iran appeared deeply sceptical of the deal and US intentions, with some expressing concern that Tehran could be giving up key sources of leverage before securing compensation and sanctions relief.
"The Americans do not honour to any commitments, they have not been loyal to any agreements, and they will not be," said Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of the ultraconservative Kayhan newspaper, in an interview with state television on Thursday.
He added: "the Strait of Hormuz is the way to get compensation."
Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for parliament's national security commission, took issue with reports of possible inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities by a UN watchdog.
"I hope the government denies this, but if this claim is true... the parliament will stand up to lawlessness and disobedience," he said in a post on X.