Neutrality Pays: Switzerland’s Dual Role in US-Iran Talks

The location may be new, but the choice of Switzerland as the main arena where the West and Iran meet in an attempt to reach understanding is not. These days, Bern is taking advantage of the special relations it has built and nurtured with Iran since the period after the Islamic revolution, in order to position itself again as an international mediator and to justify the neutrality of the small and rich country.

Neutral since 1515

The Swiss themselves admit that the country’s famous neutrality, which has continued continuously since 1515 and was anchored in international agreements at the beginning of the 19th century, is now the basis of its economic prosperity.

Switzerland makes it clear that it is ready to do business with everyone, and its banking system, regional stability and avoidance of value-destroying wars together constitute a global attractive factor for investments. But especially regarding Iran, this policy leads to a key role for the Swiss Confederation in the international arena. Switzerland does apply energy and financial sanctions on Iran, but to a large extent it is one of the biggest friends of the Islamic State in Europe.

The special relations between the countries began already after the Islamic revolution in 1979, when Swiss diplomats were sent to Iran to re-establish trade relations, but also to negotiate the release of American hostages. A year later, the Swiss were entrusted with the diplomatic authority to represent and protect Americans in Iran and at the beginning of 1981, the Swiss mediated the agreement for the release of the hostages from the American embassy. From then until today, the USA grants Switzerland the authority over its consular affairs in Iran, including the issuance of visas and documents, in the status of a sponsoring country.

This status confers international prestige, and for this purpose Switzerland operates a large embassy in Tehran, which has not stopped operating even during the current war and has been used to convey direct messages to the US in previous conflicts, such as in the “With a Dog” operation in June 2025.

Iran, for its part, has also given Switzerland its diplomatic representation in countries such as Canada and Egypt, which gives the Swiss an incentive to maintain good relations with Tehran. Among other things, Bern is the one that consistently promoted Iran’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) about a decade ago. The Swiss also treat the Islamic regime with symbolic respect: when former foreign minister Micheline Kalmi-Ray visited Tehran in 2008, she met with then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while wearing an Islamic headscarf.

The economic gain is minor

Even if the special ties give Switzerland the high international status it is trying to maintain, at the economic level the relations between the countries are quite minor. The Swiss banks and businesses respect the American sanctions on the country without any choice, fearing the consequences of cooperation.

A large gas deal with Iran worth billions, which was the reason for the highly publicized visit of the foreign minister in 2008, was finally canceled under American pressure. Switzerland’s major food and pharmaceutical corporations such as Nestlé and Roche, meanwhile, received “special permission” to export basic products to the Islamic Republic, but total Swiss exports to Iran were only about $200 million last year.

Justifies her position

In the last decade, Switzerland became the center of negotiations around the nuclear agreement with Iran. It is the country that initially hosted, in Lausanne, the talks on the JCPOA agreement that was finally signed in Vienna between the international community and Iran and by the American administration.

After the US withdrew from the agreement in 2018, during the first term of American President Donald Trump, Switzerland again became the focus of discussions between Europe and Iran on a new agreement, which will include imposing additional restrictions on the Iranian nuclear and missile program in exchange for free trade.

Last year, a tense meeting was held in Geneva where European foreign ministers tried to convince Iran to sign a new nuclear deal, just two days before the American president launched B52 bombers to bomb nuclear sites immune to Israeli bombs.

In the current war between the US, Israel and Iran, just a few weeks after it began, Switzerland announced that in the name of its neutrality, it was immediately stopping shipments of weapons and defense equipment to the US. Its embassy in Tehran has returned to serve as a conduit for the transmission of messages between the parties.

While Oman also mediated the contacts between the parties, then Qatar and now led by Pakistan, Switzerland remains involved and allows subjects and donors from Iran swift visas to visit the country for negotiation purposes.

While the EU and US maintain a comprehensive list of senior Iranian government and business officials barred from entry as part of international sanctions, Switzerland avoids this step so they can visit it for negotiations at any time.

This is why in recent days Switzerland is trying to leverage its role as a mediator, to justify its policy. She quickly prepared the site of the discussions in Bergenstock, defined the discussions as “the summit of Lake Lucerne”, and assured the parties of a quick and secret arrival. “The relationship of trust between Switzerland and Iran, which is reflected in our mandate as a sponsoring power (for Iranian citizens in other countries), is now being used in the service of diplomacy and the establishment of peace and security in the Middle East,” wrote Swiss Foreign Minister Ignacio Cassis.

The need to justify the special relationship is also internal, when the government explains to the public that it does not support “severing ties” with Iran due to human rights violations or large-scale executions, in order to continue to be able to convey messages between the parties. It is not difficult to estimate that if the international sanctions on Iran are lifted as a result of the talks that began this week, Switzerland will be the first in line to get business access to a market of 90 million people, in a country with huge oil reserves and the second largest gas reserves in the world.