Iran’s negotiators walked out of peace talks with the US and snubbed JD Vance last night after Donald Trump unleashed an angry tirade against Tehran.
In a profanity-filled outburst, the President threatened to “blow the s**t out of them”, seize the Strait of Hormuz and effectively take control of Iran.
The landmark meeting collapsed around 80 minutes in after talks entered what Iranian officials described as a “difficult phase” following “an insulting message from the US President”, according to Iran’s state news agency.
Earlier, Trump revealed he had warned Iranian officials: “You close the strait and you won’t have a country.
“You won’t even make it back to your f***ing country… We’ll take over the rest of the country,” he reportedly told them, according to Fox News.
“We may take over the Strait if we have to. I’ll blow the s**t out of them.”
He later doubled down on social media, writing: “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!”
Iran’s delegation also refused to take part in a photo opportunity with Vance, despite the US Vice President saying only hours earlier that Washington hoped to “turn over a new leaf” with the Islamic Republic.
The talks at the Qatar-owned Burgenstock resort in Switzerland were the first held under the memorandum of understanding agreed last week.
But hopes of a breakthrough quickly faded after Trump warned the US would strike Iran again unless it reopened the Strait of Hormuz and reined in its proxy groups.
On Saturday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced it was shutting the strategic waterway because of the ongoing conflict in Lebanon.
Iran had hoped to discuss Lebanon during Sunday’s talks, where Israel has been battling the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group.
Negotiators were also expected to focus on Tehran’s nuclear programme and reopening the strait.
However, Iran later threw negotiations into doubt, insisting it would not return to the table until the fighting ended and it secured billions of dollars in what it called reconstruction funding.
The Iranian delegation was led by chief negotiator Mohammad Ghalibaf and included Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, along with senior security, banking and oil officials.
After walking out, Iranian officials said the talks had been “paused” rather than terminated.
“We do not take American threats into account,” Ghalibaf said in response to Trump’s remarks.
“They would do better to be careful with their statements. Our armed forces are ready to respond in a different manner. No matter what they say, we are the ones who act.”
The American team included Vance, as well as special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Also present in Switzerland as mediators were Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, alongside a Qatari delegation.
“The question is, can we turn over a new leaf? Can we change relations in the Middle East permanently, or do we go back to doing things the old way, which is not our preference but is certainly something that can happen,” Vance said.
By late Sunday night, however, the Strait of Hormuz had been effectively shut once again.
Only one small tanker was publicly reported to have crossed the waterway after the closure, compared with dozens of vessels in recent days as traffic had begun returning to pre-war levels.
US Central Command said 55 merchant ships carrying more than 17 million barrels of oil passed through the strait on Saturday.
But a day later, Iran’s Fars news agency reported that no new transit permits would be issued until further notice.
Shipping companies have repeatedly warned that the route remains too dangerous to navigate without Iran’s approval.
