Suspense over Iran deal event in Switzerland: Who is attending? Vance, Shehbaz Sharif pull out

After the US Vice President JD Vance, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif also postponed his visit to Switzerland for the US-Iran peace deal ceremony, insisting that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two nations have already been signed. This puts the ceremonial event scheduled to take place on Friday on hold.

"The proposed visit has been postponed as the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding has already been electronically signed, has entered into force, and is now under implementation," Pakistani prime minister's spokesperson Mosharraf Zaidi told AFP.

The announcement from the Pakistani official came hours after he posted on his social media platform that the agreement that marked the end of the war would come into effect "immediately". “As a first step, the Islamic Republic of Iran will instantly reopen the Strait of Hormuz and the United States of America will immediately lift the naval blockade,” the Pakistani premier wrote on X.

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US, Iran lift blockade

Since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran on February 28, the Strait of Hormuz has been under a virtual Iranian blockade. In response to this, Washington imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports and oil tankers on Wednesday. With the signing of the agreement on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Evian, France, the blockades have now been lifted.

It is important to note that around 20 per cent of the world’s crude oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz. After Sharif decided to postpone the visit, Pakistan's Deputy PM Ishaq Dar, who also heads the foreign ministry, told the BBC Urdu that the formal peace deal ceremony has been cancelled, and it shouldn't be concerning since the MoU has already been signed remotely.

However, no such mention of the ceremony being cancelled has been made by Switzerland or any other parties involved in the ceremony.

Questions were first raised about the event’s prospects after Sharif edited his post on X earlier in the day, removing a paragraph that stated: "Pakistan, with the support of co-mediator State of Qatar, will host the official ceremony as scheduled on 19 June 2026 in Switzerland, to commemorate this landmark event and commence with the technical level talks.”