TOI correspondent from Washington: US Vice President JD Vance emerged from two days of talks with Iranian leaders in the Swiss Alps over the weekend claiming that convincing Tehran to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors back into the country was a “major milestone”, reopening international oversight of its nuclear program. Shortly thereafter, the Trump administration lifted oil sanctions on Iran, and issued a 60-day waiver authorizing the sale and transportation of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products until August, a concession designed to keep the talks alive.In remarks at the end of the initial round of talks, Vance also said – hitting back at criticism that the Trump administration had given the stores to Tehran – that if Iranian assets are not ultimately frozen, those funds would be used to buy American agricultural products.Vance credited Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner with the idea, saying, “If Iranian assets never freeze, they will make American farmers rich and help feed the Iranian people.” He also said that his initial talks with the Iranians would be followed by technical level talks during the 60-day ceasefire to reach a final agreement. For the Trump administration, Vance appears to have secured a much-needed truce to calm growing political unease at home ahead of the midterm elections in November, while the vice president’s own political future is at stake. But to critics, it all looked suspiciously like a reinvention of a pre-existing arrangement, with experts pointing out that IAEA inspections were part of the Obama-era JCPOA deal before President Trump tore it up in 2018. “Next week, Trump will announce that he has invented the wheel – a round wheel the world has never seen. The week after that, sliced bread,” one analyst quipped, reflecting widespread skepticism surrounding the Switzerland talks, where the atmosphere was heated and ambiguous, according to visuals that emerged on social media.Body language alone provided diplomatic lip-readers with enough material to keep them busy for days. Vance led the US delegation into a meeting room packed with Pakistani and Qatari negotiators. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived later, spoke briefly with Pakistani officials and left, amid reports that he declined the opportunity for a joint photo with the Americans because of President Trump’s provocative statements and ongoing Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The ignored handshakes, threats of walkout and apparently frosty exchanges hardly signaled the dawn of a grand reconciliation.After about 80 minutes of discussion, Iranian negotiators reportedly suspended talks in protest of Trump’s latest social media threats regarding Lebanon, before eventually returning to the table after Vance clarified that Trump’s comments were in response to Iranian provocations. At the end of more discussions, Vance was able to claim concrete progress amid general skepticism in Washington, where many critics are sharpening their knives in anticipation of the mission’s failure. While Trump and Vance supporters saw an elegant solution in flowing frozen Iranian money into the military rearmament instead of buying American wheat, corn and soybeans that Washington is worried about, policy experts were less impressed, recalling Vance’s own warnings after the October 7 attacks, when he argued that “money is fungible” and that financial relief for Tehran in one region could indirectly strengthen the IRGC.The apparent shift has forced some conservatives into rhetorical gymnastics. Escalating the dispute, the US Treasury Department moved with remarkable speed on Monday to demonstrate Washington’s seriousness, issuing a sweeping 60-day sanctions waiver authorizing the sale and transportation of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products through August, a key concession designed to keep the talks alive. The waivers cover banking, insurance, transportation and related commercial activities and represent the largest easing of sanctions against Iran in years. For Israel and its many supporters in Washington, the announcement arrived with all the subtlety of a bunker-buster. The pro-Israel constituency in the US is still grappling with the new Trump-Vance formulation that every country in the region has legitimate security concerns and a right to defend itself, and that Iran also has a right to retain conventional ballistic missile capabilities under a future settlement framework.The broader picture is that Vance appears to have salvaged something from a conversation that was repeatedly threatening to collapse under the weight of the MAGA boss’ social media grenades. Throughout the talks, Trump continued to fire at Iran and threatened more destruction, angering his delegates. According to Vance, at one point, the Iranians were almost completely driven out, but he was able to regain the position. Behind the scenes, two unlikely diplomatic facilitators helped keep the process on life support: Pakistan and Qatar. Both countries acted as mediators, even though both have many critics in the US.