&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Vance departs for Switzerland as Iranian delegation arrives in Zurich for negotiations")
The Iranian delegation, led by Parliament Speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, arrived in Zurich on Saturday for the first round of technical discussions with the United States under the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at ending hostilities in West Asia, according to Iranian state media Press TV.
The Iranian negotiating team has been named "Minab 168" in honour of the victims of the Minab school incident. Iranian officials have previously referenced the incident during diplomatic and political engagements on the international stage.
The development comes as US Vice President JD Vance also departed for Switzerland to take part in negotiations focused on implementing the agreement signed by Washington and Tehran earlier this week.
Before leaving Joint Base Andrews, Vance said the talks would centre on Iran's nuclear programme and the ceasefire in Lebanon.
"I think we're going to hopefully make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue. Those are the two big things that I think we're to be focused on," Vance told reporters, adding that he expected to remain involved in the talks for only a short period.
Negotiations were initially scheduled to begin in Switzerland on Friday, but were postponed after Israel launched a series of strikes in Lebanon following the deaths of four Israeli soldiers in combat.
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Truce violations remain a key challenge
Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have traded accusations of violating the newly established truce, which formed part of the preliminary understanding reached between the United States and Iran.
Despite the tensions, Vance expressed optimism about developments in Lebanon.
"It's going to be something we're just going to have to continuously manage to ensure that... Israel and Lebanon are both safe and secure," he said.
"The big problem is that you have somebody who will shoot and then somebody will respond, and you kind of have a chicken and egg problem where you've just got to stop the shooting for long enough to get the ceasefire to keep hold."
Vance also noted that US negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were already in Switzerland working on the technical aspects of the discussions.
