US-Iran talks postponed in Switzerland amid Israel-Hezbollah tensions; Hormuz remains a key issue

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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is reportedly expected to participate in the next round of U.S.-Iran talks aimed at reaching a potential nuclear agreement.

Araghchi is expected to travel to Switzerland on Sunday for the negotiations, according to Axios.

The outlet reported that his travel plans remain fluid and could still change.

Axios also reported that White House envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Switzerland for the talks.

White House adviser Jared Kushner is already in Switzerland ahead of the anticipated negotiations, according to the report.

Molavi Abdolhamid, Iran's most prominent Sunni cleric, on Friday praised a memorandum aimed at ending the conflict between the United States and Iran, while warning that ordinary Iranians may not benefit unless corruption is addressed.

Abdolhamid said the agreement was in the best interests of the Iranian people.

“If financial corruption is not eliminated, there is a risk that released assets will also be wasted and the people of Iran will not benefit from them,” he said.

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian agreed to a 14-point memorandum aimed at easing tensions between the two countries.

White House envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Switzerland to participate in negotiations with Iran over a potential nuclear agreement, according to Axios.

The outlet also reported that former White House adviser Jared Kushner is already in Switzerland ahead of the anticipated talks.

The report came after Vice President JD Vance scrapped plans to travel to Switzerland on Friday for what had been expected to be the next round of U.S.-Iran negotiations.

The talks were expected to take place following a newly signed memorandum of understanding, with negotiators initially aiming to reach an agreement within 60 days.

Medal of Honor recipient and retired Staff Sgt. David Bellavia said Friday that the next phase of U.S.-Iran negotiations remains fragile, warning Tehran could seek opportunities to derail the process.

“Iran is gonna have every excuse in the world to get out of this deal,” Bellavia said on the Will Cain Show Friday, pointing to ongoing tensions between Hezbollah and Israel.

Bellavia said the death of four Israeli soldiers and continued clashes in Lebanon could complicate efforts to advance the memorandum of understanding signed earlier this week.

He also downplayed reports that Iran-backed networks could target American forces in the region, arguing such threats have long been part of Tehran’s playbook.

“We’re going to continue to have to keep our head on a swivel,” Bellavia said, adding that U.S. forces must remain prepared for attacks by Iranian proxies during the 60-day negotiating period.

“This is obviously a very fragile peace,” he added.

A senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned that any agreement to end the war must preserve Iran’s leverage in the Strait of Hormuz and maintain the Islamic Republic’s regional influence.

Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Khamenei and former commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the conflict must conclude in a way that safeguards Iran’s deterrence capabilities “for the next 50 years,” according to Iran International.

Rezaei’s comments signal continued resistance among some senior Iranian military figures to any arrangement that could be viewed as limiting Tehran’s influence over the strategic waterway.

He also claimed the United States had emerged from the conflict as “the defeated criminal” and warned that Iran would respond forcefully to any future provocation.

“In the armed forces, we respond to the enemy’s mistake much more severely than what it was,” Rezaei said.

Vice President JD Vance said it would not be “uncomfortable” to stand alongside Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf despite criticism over his alleged role in crackdowns on protesters.

“Sometimes you deal with very nice people. Sometimes you deal with very not nice people,” Vance told CBN News.

The vice president said international diplomacy often requires engaging with “all kinds of people” as the Trump administration works to advance negotiations with Iran.

Retired four-star Army Gen. Jack Keane said Friday that he remains skeptical Iran will ultimately agree to a lasting deal with the United States, despite ongoing negotiations aimed at implementing a memorandum of understanding signed earlier this week.

“My own gut feeling for this is it’s likely not to get a deal,” Keane said on 'America Reports.' “We would all like to see a deal meeting all of the president’s maximalist objectives.”

Keane argued that Iran believes it retains leverage through its ability to disrupt traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and warned that Tehran could attempt to delay or derail negotiations.

“Anything that happens here that doesn’t go their way, they’re going to say the Strait is closed down,” he said.

Still, Keane said President Donald Trump would not allow the issue to remain unresolved if diplomacy fails.

“I guarantee you he is not going to turn over an Iranian mess to his successor,” Keane said. “He will clean this up.”

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper on Friday condemned comments by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calling for “all of Lebanon to burn,” describing the remark as “horrendous and abhorrent.”

“Calling for ‘all of Lebanon to burn’ is a horrendous and abhorrent statement from an Israeli Minister who has rightly been sanctioned by the UK Government,” Cooper wrote on X.

Cooper also called on Israel and Hezbollah to abide by the recently announced ceasefire.

“We call on both Israel and Hizballah to comply with the agreed ceasefire, and ensure that all civilians are protected,” she said.

President Donald Trump on Friday touted the recently signed U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, saying maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has surged since the agreement was reached.

“Those ships are flowing out of the Hormuz Strait like nobody’s ever seen before,” Trump said during remarks at Joint Base Andrews, where he unveiled a new Air Force One aircraft. “There were about 700 of them, and they’re pouring out and the oil is all over the place.”

Trump also said Iran has a 60-day window to reach a final agreement with the United States, warning that Tehran could face consequences if negotiations stall.

“We have an agreement that was signed last night, and it’s 60 days. I have to make a deal. Otherwise we will do things that won’t make them happy,” Trump said. “But I don’t think it’s going to get to that.”

The president argued that reopening the strategic waterway is critical to global energy markets, adding that shipping companies are reluctant to operate in areas threatened by missiles or naval mines.

Iran on Friday denied reports that it had invited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect nuclear facilities damaged in U.S. and Israeli attacks, saying any future access will depend on the outcome of ongoing negotiations.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said inspections at certain facilities remain suspended and that access to sites affected by the strikes would be determined during the current 60-day negotiating period, according to reporting from Iran International.

Baghaei also said the memorandum of understanding signed with the United States preserves the current status of Iran’s nuclear program during the negotiation window, while inspections at facilities not impacted by the restrictions would continue as normal.

U.S. Central Command commander Adm. Brad Cooper praised the roughly 15,000 American service members who helped enforce the blockade of Iranian ports over the past two months, calling their performance a reflection of the U.S. military’s strength and professionalism.

“I could not be prouder of our 15,000 men and women in uniform who supported the blockade over the past two months,” Cooper said in a statement shared by CENTCOM on X.

Cooper said troops maintained strict enforcement of the operation while also supporting the flow of humanitarian aid.

“There is no mission too great for our warfighters who make up the most powerful military the world has ever known,” he added.

The remarks come days after the U.S. lifted its blockade of Iranian ports following the signing of a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict with Tehran.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said Friday that Israel remains “firmly committed to an immediate ceasefire” with Hezbollah, pushing back on claims from the terror group and Iran that Jerusalem continued offensive operations after the truce took effect.

“At 11:30 this morning, Israel halted all offensive operations; Hezbollah and Iranian claims to the contrary are bold lies,” Leiter wrote on X.

The ambassador said Israel would honor the ceasefire if Hezbollah does the same.

“If Hezbollah honors the agreement and ceases its hostilities, they will be met with quiet,” Leiter said.

Leiter also defended Israel’s security buffer zone in southern Lebanon, saying Israeli forces would remain there until Hezbollah’s infrastructure is dismantled.

“The people of Lebanon deserve a future free from Hezbollah’s grip, and a real, genuine peace between our two countries remains possible,” he added.

As Americans remain divided on the memorandum of understanding ending the war in Iran, star athletes who represent two of the countries most impacted by the deal have shared their thoughts.

Former Iranian youth wrestling champion Sardar Pashaei, who won the Asian Youth Wrestling Championship in 1998 for Iran, expressed disappointment with the current regime's survival.

"Many believed that under President Trump, the Islamic Republic would become history. Instead, it was handed one of the greatest opportunities in its history to survive. The regime gained financial lifelines and political breathing room while millions of Iranians sank deeper into poverty, unemployment, and uncertainty," Pashei told Fox News Digital.

"This agreement gives the regime room to rebuild its machinery of repression — new centers for arrest, torture, and intimidation. When an agreement offers nothing to the Iranian people, why would the regime hesitate to intensify its crackdown?"

Meanwhile, Israelis have been among the harshest critics of the deal, warning the agreement does not do enough to safeguard Israel's security.

Team Israel skeleton and bobsled Olympian AJ Edelman, who is American-born but represented Israel in the 2026 and 2018 Winter Olympics, called the deal "a disgrace."

"We emboldened the regime," Edelman told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

President Donald Trump has described the arrangement as a means of avoiding a wider conflict while pursuing what he called a "great settlement" with Tehran.

He has also argued that the agreement could help stabilize energy markets by reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping route, while creating an opportunity to negotiate additional restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities.

Retired Navy Captain and former Pentagon official Brent Sadler told Fox News on Friday that the Iranians will try to “test” the Trump administration after signing a memorandum of understanding this week aiming to end the war.

The comment comes after Vice President JD Vance scrapped plans to travel to Switzerland on Friday for the next round of U.S.-Iran talks. 

“I think we should expect that it’s not going to be a straight line or a smooth path in executing this MOU,” Sadler said. “And clearly the Iranians are going to now try and test the administration, both with things like this trick right now of not showing up to Switzerland despite saying they would, and also to try to test the bounds of what they can get away with from U.S. pressure on the Israelis in Lebanon, especially when a response from the Israelis against an attack by Hezbollah is balanced and warranted.” 

Iran’s foreign minister said this week that any attack by Israel against Lebanon would be considered a violation of the agreement. Israel’s military has been clashing in recent days with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist group in Lebanon. 

Trump critic and Democratic strategist James Carville praised President Donald Trump for getting out of the conflict with Iran by signing a memorandum of understanding aimed toward ending the war.

"You know, they call it a memorandum of understanding. It’s actually an instrument of surrender. We started a war and we surrendered. Let’s be very clear about that. And let’s give Trump credit where credit’s due. He did what Lyndon Johnson did not do in Vietnam — just get out," Carville told NewsNation on Thursday.

"He didn’t do what Bush and even Obama did in Afghanistan — just get out. You understand? I think the best thing Biden ever did was just leave Afghanistan, and I’ll give Trump credit. He saw this thing was going the wrong way, and he just quit and got out, and sometimes you got to do that," Carville added.

A U.S.-backed ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah was set to take effect Friday afternoon, as Washington tried to salvage a broader regional framework with Iran after talks scheduled for Switzerland were abruptly postponed.

The Israel–Hezbollah ceasefire was set to take effect 9 a.m. Eastern Time/4 p.m. local time, both a senior U.S. and an Israeli official told Fox News Digital, but whether the ceasefire formally took effect remains disputed.  

The White House has not publicly commented on whether the ceasefire has formally taken effect. 

A Hezbollah spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the group would abide by the ceasefire if Israel does, but "reserves the right to respond" to any violation. The spokesperson said Hezbollah did not yet view the ceasefire as having taken effect, claiming Israel was still carrying out strikes in southern Lebanon more than an hour after it was supposed to begin.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a video after the 4 p.m. local start time that he said showed Israel Defense Forces striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. It is unclear when those reported strikes took place, and Fox News Digital could not independently verify their timing.

Fox News' Efrat Lachter contributed to this post.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., wrote on X Friday that the "Republican war of choice in the Middle East has been a complete disaster."

"Gas prices are higher, Iran is stronger, America is less safe and more than $100 billion in taxpayer money has been wasted," he said. "Regime change is coming to Congress in November."

The comments come after President Donald Trump pushed back Friday against claims that Iran is now better off than before the war.

"It doesn’t, any longer, have an Air Force, a Navy, Antiaircraft Equipment, Radar, or practically anything else, and yet the Dumocrats say that Iran is better off now than it was four months ago," Trump said on Truth Social.

A Hezbollah spokesperson told Fox News on Friday that the terrorist group did not yet view a ceasefire with Israel as having taken effect, claiming Israel was still carrying out strikes in southern Lebanon more than an hour after it was supposed to begin. 

A senior U.S. official confirmed to Fox News Digital earlier that a ceasefire went into effect between Israel and Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. The official revealed the ceasefire began at 4 p.m. local time. 

The Hezbollah spokesperson said the group would abide by the ceasefire if Israel does, but “reserves the right to respond” to any violation.  

About an hour and a half after the ceasefire was supposed to begin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on X, “As I instructed -- the IDF struck powerfully 150 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and eliminated dozens of terrorists.” 

Netanyahu did not comment on the timing of those strikes. 

Still, an Israeli official told Fox News Digital they intended to honor the agreement. "If Hezbollah doesn’t shoot, we won’t shoot. If they shoot- we will respond."

Fox News’ Efrat Lachter contributed to this post.