Zurich, 21 June

US Vice President JD Vance, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif were among the top leaders who reached Switzerland on Sunday for high-level talks aimed at restoring peace in West Asia.

Vance arrived on Sunday morning, while other US negotiators - including envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner - were already here.

"My understanding, talking to Jared and Steve this (Saturday) morning, is things are going well,” Vance told Fox News before departing.

The Iranian delegation is being led by Ghalibaf, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

It further said in a report, “Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Bagheri Kani, and Central Bank of Iran Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati are also part of the delegation.”

Pakistan PM Sharif also landed in Zurich on Sunday, accompanied by Army chief Asim Munir and other delegates.

“Pakistan will continue to facilitate the process in its role as mediator, with a view to advancing the understandings reached under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding,” its Foreign Office said in a statement on Saturday.

IRNA also reported that a meeting between Araghchi and his Swiss counterpart Ignazio Cassis happened on Sunday.

Negotiators from Qatar will also participate in the meeting, according to an official statement.

US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian last week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which marked the beginning of a 60-day negotiation window to restore peace in West Asia.

Key mediator Pakistan signed the MoU as a guarantor.

The technical aspects of the negotiations were supposed to begin on Friday, but were delayed, primarily due to fresh rounds of firing between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The aim of the high-level talks being held in Switzerland is to formally launch negotiations on curbing Tehran's nuclear programme and advancing the fragile interim deal towards a durable peace.

The signing of the MoU led to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz - the waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s energy supplies pass in normal times.

However, Iran said on Saturday that it has closed the Strait again, citing an Israeli attack in Lebanon.

Vance said that the Gulf chokepoint remains open for shipping, while Trump issued a threat to impose American tolls in the crucial waterway if a final deal with Iran isn’t reached in 60 days.