US envoys expected in Switzerland but Israeli attacks threaten talks

US envoys and Iran’s foreign minister are expected in Switzerland for talks on cementing a peace deal, but more Israeli strikes in Lebanon are putting pressure on the agreement.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, son-in-law of the United States President Donald Trump, were headed for Switzerland, US media reported on Friday, after scheduled negotiations between the US and Iran there were postponed.

list of 4 items

list 1 of 4Iran ‘ready to move forward’ with US deal, says Israel must abide by terms
list 2 of 4Israel kills ‘a child a day’ on average in Gaza despite ceasefire, UN says
list 3 of 4US announces new round of Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington next week
list 4 of 4Does Trump have to submit the Iran memorandum of understanding to Congress?

end of list

Witkoff was on his way to the Alpine nation on Friday, Axios said, quoting an unnamed US official, while CNN reported his trip comes as Washington and Iran work to get technical talks that follow up on an initial peace deal “back on track”.

Trump’s envoy Jared Kushner was also expected to be in Switzerland for talks, CNN said, quoting a US official. Axios said he was already there.

Vice President JD Vance had initially been expected to travel but postponed his trip, the White House announced late on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to travel to Switzerland on Saturday, although those plans could still change, according to sources quoted by Axios.

Citing a source from one of the mediating countries, the report also said Araghchi told several counterparts that Iran views a ceasefire in Lebanon as essential to the diplomatic process and that it could “make or break” the US-Iran talks.

Another source said Iranian officials want to see a ceasefire take hold before heading to Switzerland.

The Iranian Students’ News Agency said Araghchi will meet Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Tehran on Saturday.

Iran’s state news agency IRNA also reported that Naqvi departed for Tehran on Saturday to meet with senior Iranian officials.

Ten killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon

At least ten people were killed in Israeli ⁠air strikes and drone attacks in southern Lebanon, just hours after a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group took effect.

State ‌news agency NNA on Saturday said Israeli warplanes and drones carried out a series of strikes across the Nabatieh area overnight and into Saturday morning, destroying residential buildings ⁠and homes, while Israeli ⁠artillery shelled Nabatieh and its outskirts before dawn.

An Israeli attack on the village of Barish in southern Lebanon killed four members of the same family – a father, a mother and their two children – the NNA said.

Three people were killed in an Israeli raid on the village of Arab Salim, one person was killed in a raid on the municipality of Deir ez-Zahrani, and another was killed in an Israeli drone attack on a motorcycle at the eastern entrance to the village of Doueir.

A Lebanese soldier was killed in an Israeli strike on the village of Kfar Reman, the NNA said.

The attacks come after Israel and Hezbollah announced a renewed ceasefire in Lebanon, and threaten to derail the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) to end the war.

Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Beirut, said the attacks on Saturday are “nothing like the kind of violence we saw throughout Friday with something like 150 strikes, and about 15 people killed and 100 people wounded and injured”.

“It does point to the shaky nature of this ceasefire, and also how the whole negotiating process does seem to be reliant upon Lebanon and what happens here in the coming days and weeks”, McBride said.

Article 1 of the MoU explicitly states that ending the war in Lebanon is an integral part of the broader ceasefire arrangement across all fronts.

The Lebanese army said in a statement on Saturday that the continuation of Israeli attacks on Lebanon aimed to obstruct efforts to restore stability in the country.

Following a ceasefire agreement reached in November 2024, the government in Lebanon has been seeking to disarm Hezbollah as part of a US-backed roadmap. The Lebanese government has also pushed for Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

The text of an agreement earlier this month called for Hezbollah’s withdrawal to the north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon but did not call for Israel’s full withdrawal.

Upcoming talks between Lebanon and the US

The US State Department has said that a new round of talks between Israel and Lebanon will be held in Washington, DC, on June 23 and 25, and will aim to “make progress toward a lasting peace”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday that “Lebanon’s bilateral negotiations with Israel represent the only feasible path to reconstruction, economic recovery, and ending recurrent cycles of violence”, according to the State Department.

However, the talks have not included Hezbollah, hampering any meaningful progress.

On Saturday, Ali Fayyad, a representative of the Hezbollah faction in the Lebanese parliament, said in remarks carried by Iran’s Tasnim news agency that the armed group ruled out a ceasefire with Israel while Israeli forces remain on Lebanese territory, warning that any further aggression would be met with a response.

“The position of the resistance is clear, unambiguous, non-negotiable and without retreat,” Fayyad said, adding: “A ceasefire while the enemy continues its targeting and assassinations is meaningless. The right to self-defence is established for us and is not subject to bargaining or negotiation.”

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