>>/186391/,  >>/186392/,  >>/186393/,  >>/186394/,  >>/186395/,  >>/186396/,  >>/186397/,  >>/186398/,  >>/186399/,  >>/186400/,  >>/186401/,  >>/186402/,  >>/186403/,  >>/186404/,  >>/186405/,  >>/186406/,  >>/186407/,  >>/186408/,  >>/186409/,  >>/186410/,  >>/186411/,  >>/186412/,  >>/186413/,  >>/186414/,  >>/186415/,  >>/186416/,  >>/186417/,  >>/186418/,  >>/186419/,  >>/186420/,  >>/186421/,  >>/186422/,  >>/186423/,  >>/186424/,  >>/186425/,  >>/186426/,  >>/186427/,  >>/186428/,  >>/186429/,  >>/186430/,  >>/186431/,  >>/186432/,  >>/186433/,  >>/186434/,  >>/186435/,  >>/186436/,  >>/186437/,  >>/186438/,  >>/186439/,  >>/186440/,  >>/186441/,  >>/186442/,  >>/186443/,  >>/186444/
White House Press Pool Reports @WHPressPool - VP Travel Report #3 - Switzerland - Vance gives update on negotiations
Vice President JD Vance gave an update on the Iran negotiations here in Switzerland and said the Iranians had “agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country.”
“That is a major milestone for the American people, and the first step in permanently denuclearizing or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran,” Vance said from behind a podium here at Bürgenstock.
Vance said conversations with IAEA inspectors could happen as soon as today.
The Vice President said the Strait of Hormuz is currently open and said negotiations yesterday focused on building a “mechanism for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open.”
“So that when there are the conflicts that inevitably come up, we can make sure we work through them rather than that leading to escalation, and that is exactly what we did yesterday,” Vance said.
Vance said the Iranians did at one point threaten to walk out of negotiations after President Trump renewed threats on Iran yesterday but said they stayed to negotiate past 1am local.
Asked whether Trump’s threats threw a wrench in negotiations, Vance said, “No, they didn't throw a wrench in the system. Think with the Iranians, yes, they did threaten to walk out, or at least there were social media threats that they would walk out, but we were negotiating well past one in the morning yesterday, so they didn't walk out, and their technical team is still here in Burgenstock.”
“What we told the Iranians yesterday is when you guys engage in what us millennials might call trash talk, you can't expect the President of the United States not to respond and not to correct the record,” Vance said.
Vance said the technical teams will continue negotiations “over the weeks and days to come.”
“We set the foundation. We haven't built the house, but we've laid a successful foundation to get to a good place for the American people,” Vance said.
Asked about what progress was made on the Lebanon ceasefire, Vance said, “We've been, I think, very good at setting up what we're calling a deconfliction mechanism, but what it really is is to say that when things happen, the sides are actually talking to one another.”
Vance said they were in contact with the Israelis, Lebanese, Saudis and Emirates yesterday.
Asked whether the US wants Israel to withdraw forces from southern Lebanon, Vance said, “We want Israel's security to be protected, and we also want Lebanon's sovereignty to be protected. And this is going to be an ongoing conversation.”
“The Israelis have been very clear they do not have territorial intentions on South Lebanon. The reason they feel they have to be there is because they're worried about Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon firing into Israel. We do believe, of course, it's going to require a lot of hard work that we can get to a place where Lebanon's territorial integrity and sovereignty is protected, Israel's security is protected, and that's going to require some coordination with the Lebanese armed forces, and also it's going to require the Iranians to rein in Hezbollah, that's all the sort of things that we were talking about yesterday,” Vance said.
Vance said the US wants to set up a process where “if we ever unfreeze Iranian assets, we can ensure that those, that that money, that Iranian money goes to help the people of Iran and not to fund terrorism.” The Vice President did not answer whether the Iranians had agreed to conditions being placed on the funds.
 55