United States Vice President JD Vance postponed his flight to Switzerland, where negotiations with Iranian representatives were planned and the official signing of a memorandum of understanding was expected. This information was published Friday morning by the Axios agency, citing an official White House statement.
At a press conference on Thursday, Vance stressed that the final details of the negotiation process had not yet been agreed upon, and mentioned possible difficulties with organizing the arrival of the Iranian delegation.
The American delegation was ready to fly at the first opportunity. However, the logistics of these negotiations was never simple or predictable. At this moment the vice president is not departing this evening. We expect to begin technical negotiations as soon as possible.
On Thursday, Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei authorized Iranian negotiators to conduct direct talks with the US, while emphasizing that this step "does not mean adopting the adversary's views."
Hours later, the speaker of Iran's parliament and head of the Iranian negotiating group Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf expressed gratitude to Khamenei and confirmed the intention to follow Iran's "red lines" during the negotiations, but made no mention of the postponement of the meeting.
Earlier, the US Vice President expressed dissatisfaction with the reaction of Israeli politicians to the agreement reached by the Trump administration with Iran. He made clear that Israeli ministers should not criticize Trump, given the significant volume of American military aid to Israel.
Vance had previously called on Israel's leadership to adopt a more realistic approach in an interview with The New York Times, noting that a country with a population of nine million people cannot solve all security problems by military means alone. Later, at a White House briefing, his statements became even more pointed.
At the end of the briefing, Vance was asked about the Axios report regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's extreme frustration over the agreement. The question was prompted by critical remarks from Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and other Israeli politicians.
Vance first said that in private conversations Netanyahu had spoken of the agreement more positively. However, he then told reporters that he was personally "disturbed" by members of Netanyahu's cabinet who had publicly spoken out against the deal and had "in some sense very personally" attacked the US President.
Donald Trump is currently the only head of state in the entire world who genuinely cares about the state of Israel.
He warned that, were he a member of the Israeli government, he "would not attack the only powerful ally they have left in the whole world."
Vance then essentially reminded Israel of the scale of American military assistance:
One more thing I would say: over the past three months, two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your country were built by American hands and paid for by American taxpayers.
The US Vice President also noted:
Anyone in Israel who believes the main problem of their country is the US President should wake up and understand the reality of the situation that country is in.
Vance emphasized that the agreement reached with Tehran has the potential to transform the region, if Iran fulfills its obligations.