What They're Saying About the U.S.–Iran Talks—June 22, 2026
U.S.
President Donald Trump | Truth Social
“Everybody is fully aware that Iran will agree to have Major Weapons Inspections in order to ensure ‘Nuclear Honesty’ long into the future.”
Vice President JD Vance | Comments to Journalists
“Yesterday was a very good day, made a lot of good progress. We did exactly what we wanted to do, which was accomplish four things for the American people. First, we wanted to build a mechanism for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open. It is open. We have seen, of course, gas prices and oil prices come down—millions of millions of barrels of crude and natural gas flowing through the Strait of Hormuz that weren’t flowing before. But we also wanted to make sure that we actually set up the coordination mechanism so that we could de-mine the Straits of Hormuz, so that when there are the conflicts that inevitably come up we can make sure that we work them rather than that leading to escalation. And that is exactly what we did yesterday. Number two, we also wanted to build a mechanism, a similar mechanism for deconfliction for the regional ceasefire. As the president of the United States has himself said, sometimes these ceasefires just mean you’re shooting a little bit less, but we wanted to make sure we had the proper coordination set up so that if there is shooting, if Hezbollah fires at Israel, or if Israel responds, or other conflicts that arise in the region, we’re actually talking to each other and figuring out how to stop the shooting, how to make the region safer, for our allies and everybody else we set that up as well. Number three—and this is probably what we’re most excited about as Americans—the Iranians have 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. . . . We made a lot of great progress on other nuclear talks and that leads me to the final thing that we wanted to accomplish. Which is actually set up the process for the technical negotiations that will follow, our teams working with the Iranians, the Qataris, and the Pakistanis made great progress yesterday. They will continue to work at the technical level with the teams here in Bürgenstock, and then those technical negotiations are going to continue over the weeks and days to come.”
Vice President JD Vance | Comments to Journalists
“I’ve seen some misreporting about frozen or unfrozen Iranian assets. One of the other things that we wanted to do—and it wasn’t as high of a priority for us, for obvious reasons: We wanted to make sure that we set up a process where if, if, we ever unfreeze Iranian assets, we can ensure that that money, that Iranian money, goes to help the people of Iran and not to fund terrorism. And so Jared Kushner actually came up with the very interesting solution with the Qataris, where, basically, if there is any frozen Iranian assets that are unfrozen, then we have approval over that process, the Qataris have approval over that process. And then the money would actually go to buy American soy, American corn, and American wheat for the benefit of the Iranian people. And as much as I see some of the press misreporting on this, and of course buttressed by what the Iranians are saying. Not all Iranians, I want to be clear, there are a lot of Iranians who are telling the truth about what happened yesterday. But you see some social media reporting that get this wrong, but fundamentally, what Jared and the Qataris, and the entire team here in Bürgenstock accomplished is to me a classic Trump deal, where if Iranian assets are ever unfrozen, they’re going to go to make American farmers richer and to feed the Iranian people. That’s a very, very good and very classic Trump deal that’s good for our people, and great for the people of Iran, and fundamentally, again, will contribute to this regional security architecture that we’ve built and that we’re going to work very hard to ensure that it endures.”
Vice President JD Vance | Comments to Journalists
[When asked whether the U.S. wants Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon]
“Well, 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. And again I think that we got much further compared to where we were just 24 hours ago.”
Vice President JD Vance | Comments to Journalists
[Question: “Did you going in expect the Iranians to make Lebanon as much of a lynchpin as they ended up doing, and how would you describe the progress on Lebanon?”]
“I would describe it as very good progress. I mean, we want a regional ceasefire. Right—we want Hezbollah to stop firing at our friends in Israel. We want Israelis to be able to live in peace. We also want to make sure that when things happen, they don’t spiral into a broader escalation. And so we have been 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. Sometimes you got a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem, that you got a junior guy that fires a drone that didn’t have approval from the high command. Okay, of course Israel has to respond to that, but then sometimes that response, we could actually have a better and more peaceful situation if Israel responds in the context of a conversation that is ongoing between Hezbollah, Lebanon, Israel, and other partners in the region. . . . So what we’re trying to do is to say first of all, Israel and every other nation in the region has the right of self-defense. But we want to make sure that everybody has that right of self-defense, and the background where we’re talking about how to deescalate these conflicts rather than spiraling out of control. Sometimes what will happen is that if the conflict spirals out of control, that’s worse for everybody’s self-defense and worse for everybody’s security, so we’ve actually got the process in place to ensure that that escalation doesn’t happen. Now I will say you already see the fruits of that over the past 24 hours—[they] probably have been the most peaceful that we’ve seen the situation in Lebanon. . . . Obviously, there was some shooting about 72 hours ago, so this is a work in progress but what we’ve done is actually set up the operation so that we can ensure it doesn’t spiral out of control in the future.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | X
“Under President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, we continue to make the world safer and more prosperous. In line with the ongoing productive talks in Switzerland, Iran has committed to free and open transit in the Strait of Hormuz and to permit International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors into their country. As part of the framework, Treasury has issued a temporary 60-day general license authorizing the production, delivery, and sale of Iranian oil.”
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett | Press Interview
“JD Vance has been on the ball in Switzerland, negotiating with the Iranians. [I] hear reports of great progress, reports that the UN is going to inspect their nuclear facilities. And you know we are getting some of the really, really big tankers out of the Straits now, so now the amount of oil coming through the Straits as of the beginning of the weekend was almost as much as we saw pre-war. So I think that right now there is still work to do, but JD Vance has made a whole lot of progress. The fact that they’re opened to UN inspectors suggests that while the Israeli conflict with Hezbollah is something that is still going have to be discussed, the oil impact of this thing, I believe, is mostly resolved.”
State Department Spokesperson Tommy Pigott | X
“Secretary Rubio will travel to the UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain from June 23-25. He will meet with officials about a range of U.S. policy priorities including the MOU with Iran, efforts to secure full and free safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz, and discussing shared priorities across the region with Gulf Cooperation Council members.”
“It should be clear to everybody by now who our friends really are. Qatar and Pakistan have long histories of harboring terrorists, and right now they seem far more invested in propping up Iran’s decades-long terror campaign than achieving a meaningful peace. There is still room for a workable agreement that benefits everyone. HOWEVER, what everybody needs to get through their heads here is that there is ZERO chance Iran comes out of this able to build a nuclear weapon.”
Sen. Tim Sheehy | Press Interview
“O course, we hope this can be successful. I hope that Vice President Vance, Kushner, and Witkoff are successful in convincing Iran to be a normal country and to open their minds and to stop trying to murder their neighbors and destroy the world. But the reality is this is a murderous regime that doesn’t want a deal, they don’t want $6 gasoline, they don’t want the Straits to be open. They want you, and your family, and all of us to be killed. They want to wipe our civilization off the map—that’s their national motto. I don’t think we’ve been successful in communicating that to the American people. That this isn’t a regime that wants to negotiate, they want to buy time, they want to buy as much time as they can because President Trump is the only president who has ever actually gone after them head to head—who has shown them that if you kill Americans, if you come after our country, we’re going to hit you back. From Soleimaini, to Midnight Hammer, to the most recent campaign, he’s the firstpPresident ever to actually go after this regime. So what we are seeing now is the rope-a-dope they usually perform, which is buy time, try to lead us along until hopefully President Trump and his team is out of office and they can re-up their campaign. So hopefully this is successful but we have to remind ourselves we are dealing with a regime that will not negotiate in good faith. They want you and I dead, and all of us gone, and they don’t want that to happen with the snap of a finger, they want that to happen like October 7 times a million—they want us to be wiped off the map from New York to San Diego. . . . When you look at who has been by our side through thick and thin no matter what throughout the region for decades, it has been Israel, UAE, and of course Saudi Arabia as well. You know Pakistan, let’s not forget, hid bin Laden for a decade, they funded through ISI insurgencies against me and my troops. I think Qatar and Pakistan, they have a role to play for sure, but if they’re going to be at the table we better have UAE, Saudi, and Israel at the table too. Because Qatar has been laundering money for terrorist organizations for decades, the Pakistanis through ISI funded insurgencies against us and hid bin Laden. So to assume they’re going to be objective middlemen here, I don’t think is accurate.”
House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith | Press Interview
“I mean it’s cliché at this point to say [that] the arsonist sets the house on fire and puts it out wants credit for it. The reason the stock market is up and oil prices are up is the three-month war appears to be coming to an end, but it is pretty clear that it cost a lot and gave us pretty close to nothing. Iran is stronger, we are weaker. So this war was a colossal mistake. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am glad that it is coming to an end. I am a little surprised that this agreement gave so much to Iran, given the weakened position the president put us in. We were pretty much forced to have to give them some sanctions relief in exchange for them opening up the Strait, which, remember, the Strait was open before this whole thing began. But to give all sanctions relief, plus a $300 billion pledge, that seems like a higher price to pay than even, given our weakened position, we should have had to pay.”
“You can only ‘take the Strait of Hormuz’ with a ground invasion of Iran. We found out the hard way an air campaign can’t dislodge Iran’s control of the Strait. But this is what the Iran hawks want. Full blown war.”
IRAN
Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i | X
“This does not mean surrendering to America in any way. Unfortunately, sometimes some people are indifferent and utter words that make the enemy delusional and lead him to fall into the illusion of the existence of discord and division within the country.”
Mohsen Rezaee, Senior IRGC Officer and Military Adviser to the Supreme Leader | X
“The United States, based on an understanding with the Islamic Republic of Iran, is responsible for the aggression and tension-provoking actions of the Zionist regime in Lebanon and must be held accountable. In the event of a threat against Iran, we will hold the Americans accountable.”
Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref | Remarks
“Iran is the big brother of the countries in the region, although some of them attacked us and treated us unfairly. . . . We officially told neighboring countries that if the slightest mistake by the United States originates from locations belonging to you, those locations will be our legitimate targets for defense. . . . The enemy failed to exploit social capital and bring people into the streets against the system in either the 12-day war or the third war.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi | X
“Tireless Pakistani and Qatari mediation has delivered major progress to end Lebanon War. Oil and petrochem exports are waived, blockade lifted, some frozen assets released, and major reconstruction & development plan launched for Iran. 1st real test: Lebanon deconfliction cell.”
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei | X
“The delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran is leaving for home after intensive talks on the implementation of the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding to End the War dated 18 June 1405. These talks, focusing on paragraphs 1, 5, 10 and 11 of the Memorandum of Understanding, began on the morning of Sunday 31 June in Switzerland (Lake Luzern) and continued until the early hours of Monday 2 July. Based on the joint statement of the mediating countries (Qatar and Pakistan), which was prepared in consultation with Iran and the United States, executive mechanisms were envisaged to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding and it was decided that discussions at expert and technical levels would continue to advance the effective implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding to End the Imposed War. Given that, according to Article 13 of the Memorandum of Understanding, the commencement of negotiations for a final agreement is subject to the commencement and continuation of the implementation of Articles 1, 4, 5, 10, and 11, the agreements reached at this meeting (in particular Article 1 regarding the end of the war and the military operations of the Zionist regime in Lebanon through the establishment of a conflict control mechanism with the participation of the parties and the Republic of Lebanon, as well as Articles 10 regarding the export of Iranian oil and petrochemical products and 11 regarding the release of Iranian frozen assets) will facilitate the process of implementing mutual commitments. The basis of the work is ‘commitment for commitment’ and the Islamic Republic of Iran, while monitoring the implementation of the other party's commitments, will use all its levers to ensure the implementation of those commitments.”
Ebrahim Azizi, Head of Parliament’s National Security Commission | X
“You make threats; we take action. The Strait of Hormuz is neither your personal casino nor the backyard of modern-day pirates; these are Iranian sovereign waters, and the ultimate decision rests with the noble people of Iran and its brave armed forces.”
Ebrahim Rezaei, Spokesperson for Parliament’s National Security Commission | X
“Trump has complained about the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz and threatened that he might control the Strait and become its guardian angel! Only an idiot would make such completely empty claims. The validity of these bluffs has expired, if you had the will to take control of the Strait of Hormuz (even for a moment) during the more than one hundred days of war, you wanted to, but you couldn't.”
Ebrahim Rezaei, Spokesperson for Parliament’s National Security Commission | X
“Don't let Grossi into the negotiations, he is more shameless than CENTCOM and still has the blood of the children of Minab on her hands.”
ISRAEL
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu | X
“My directive, and that of the Minister of Defense, to the IDF is clear and has not changed: Our fighters in southern Lebanon have full freedom of action to thwart any direct or developing threat to them or to the residents of the North. The IDF has no restrictions on this matter. I stand behind them; the entire nation stands behind them. My stance is firm on our remaining in the security zone in southern Lebanon for as long as is required in order to protect the residents of the North and all citizens of the state."
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar | X
“I said that Israel will respect the ceasefire in Lebanon as long as it won’t be breached by Hezbollah. We don’t have territorial ambitions in Lebanon, but we will not withdraw from the security zone and expose our citizens to Hezbollah’s attacks and possible invasion. Lebanon’s sovereignty has been breached for decades to this very day by Iran’s indirect occupation by Hezbollah. It’s the interest of both Lebanon and Israel that Hezbollah’s terror state will be dismantled.”
Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter | X
“Hezbollah’s terror tunnel network took years to build - and substantial financial backing from Iran to pay for. The goal was clear: prepare for an invasion into Israel. We saw what it looked like on October 7th. Israel will not have jihadi terrorists on our border. Period.”
QATAR & PAKISTAN
Qatari and Pakistani Governments | Joint Statement
“Encouraging progress has been made including the creation of a mechanism for further technical talks. Building on the MoU, the parties have agreed to the establishment of a High Level Committee, which will provide political oversight on the mediation. Chief negotiators will report regularly to the High Level Committee and lead working groups focused on nuclear, sanctions, and a monitoring and dispute resolution group to ensure the effective implementation of the MoU, and on other matters. The High Level Committee has agreed upon a roadmap towards reaching a final deal within 60 days, laying the foundation for the immediate commencement of further technical talks. In addition, a communication line between the parties has been formed for the period mentioned in paragraph 5 of the MoU to avoid incidents and miscommunication with the aim of safe passage for commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. Moreover, the parties agreed on the creation of a de-confliction cell, between the parties, the Lebanese Republic and facilitated by the Mediators, to ensure the adherence of the termination of military operations in Lebanon as per the MoU. Technical talks will continue for the remainder of the week at the Burgenstock resort on all issues.”
TURKEY
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan | Comments to Journalist
“There is always an Israel waiting in the corner, ready to sabotage the process as soon as it finds the opportunity. . . . These are important issues. It may not be easy to immediately resolve their technical details. We may see deadlocks from time to time. We need to be prepared for that.”
Receive Iran News in Your Inbox.
Eye on Iran is a news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a section 501(c)(3) organization. Eye on Iran is available to subscribers on a daily basis or weekly basis.