As Middle East conflict rages, Swiss tradition of uniting adversaries is changing

Iranians walk past an anti-US billboard at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, February 16, 2026. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH Keystone

Switzerland’s history of neutrality has allowed it to play a part in maintaining communications between enemy states and helping to resolve their disputes. Yet this traditional role is having to adapt to increasing turbulence in international relations.

As the US and Israel pound Iran with missiles and the Islamic theocracy retaliates with drone strikes against neighbouring countries, Switzerland has offered itself as a go-between between the warring sides.

The offer reflects its traditional role as a neutral messenger and sometime host of negotiations between adversaries that no longer have direct relations.

Swiss diplomats have represented US interests in Tehran via a “protecting power mandate” under its good officesExternal link since 1980, following Washington’s break in diplomatic relations with Iran after Islamic radicals took American embassy staff hostage in the city in 1979.

Since then, Switzerland has helped with matters including managing consular services, conveying high-level messages, and even assisting with prisoner exchanges.

>>Switzerland has consistently maintained good relations with Iran:

Yet as international relations recently become more messy – with trade disputes between the US and China, the war in Ukraine, and jockeying for influence among Gulf states – the established role of the impartial intermediary is changing. While Switzerland still benefits from its perceived neutrality when offering a channel for talks, the country may increasingly need to partner with nations in the region to maintain credibility.

“It’s actually impossible from the outside to say to what extent the channel is being used during these dramatic days,” Daniel Moeckli, head of the Center for Security Studies at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich, told Swissinfo. “The Swiss channel has been one of the many channels between the US and Iran, and may have lost some of its earlier dynamics.”

Swiss good offices are ‘open to all parties’ during conflict

Switzerland “stands ready” to support diplomacy leading to de-escalation, the Swiss foreign ministry saidExternal link on February 28, the day that the US and Israel began attacks that killed Iran’s top leaders and destroyed major security installations.

“Switzerland’s good offices remain available to all parties involved,” it said.

Good offices are an instrument of Swiss foreign policy in which the country’s history of military neutrality allows it to act as an impartial third party to help resolve conflicts by hosting peace negotiations, working as a mediator or delivering diplomatic messages.

>>What are these good offices, and why is neutral Switzerland getting involved?

One example of this was an exchange of prisonersExternal link between the US and Iran in 2020 following years of negotiations to build up a climate of trust, where Switzerland’s good offices “contributed to the successful outcome of this deal”, the foreign ministry said.

The same year, Switzerland also set up a system to provide humanitarian exports such as food and medicine to alleviate the impact on Iranians of economic sanctions imposed on the country because it was pushing to develop nuclear weapons.

US sanctions threat leads to ‘blanket bans’ on trade

The Swiss Humanitarian Trade ArrangementExternal link, a specialised payment mechanism that came into effect in 2020, allows companies and banks to trade humanitarian products with Iran if contracts were submitted to the US for approval.

Even so, given America’s historical inconsistency in its sanctions policy toward Iran – and other countries – such diplomatic efforts have long faced significant obstacles. Washington has repeatedly used its position in the global financial system and in dollar‑denominated transactions to isolate states it deems “pariahs”, and to weaken any bank or company it believes has violated economic sanctions.

“Many banks now have complete blanket bans on servicing any types of trade to Iran, including exempted goods,” Erica Moret and Esfandyar Batmanghelidj wrote in a 2022 reportExternal link for the Brussels-based Friends of Europe think tank. Financial institutions, along with companies trading vital goods, fear “the risk of billion-dollar fines, cumbersome compliance requirements and reputational risks,” they declared.

Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said six deals had been processed through its humanitarian trade channel in total. Ali Vaez, Iran project director at International Crisis Group, suspects the system has been dormant for several years.

The unfreezingExternal link of $6 billion (CHF4.7 billion) of Iranian funds in 2023 for the purchase of food, medicine and other humanitarian goods, agreed by the US, was routed through the Swiss National Bank (SNB) rather than via commercial banks involved in the trade arrangement; this meant the humanitarian trade channel wasn’t used.

The Swiss government decision to join European Union sanctions against Russia after the Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 may have spooked Tehran and “fuelled fears that funds might end up being frozen again in Switzerland,” Vaez said.

Critics argue against helping ‘murderous Iranian regime’

The Alpine nation also faces domestic calls to isolate the Iranian regime, which has brutally repressed dissent in recent years, killingExternal link as many as tens of thousands of its citizens in 2026.

>>Criticism of Switzerland’s role as a protecting power in Iran is growing:

During an earlier protest movement in 2022, petitions by Free Iran Switzerland were submitted to Bern seeking greater sanctions against the Islamic nation following earlier crackdowns on protesters.

Some parliamentarians have recently questioned the relevance of protecting power mandates.

“Switzerland’s mediation between Tehran and Washington has contributed to stabilising the murderous Iranian regime,” Gerhard Pfister, a Centre Party member of the Swiss Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interviewExternal link with CH Media in March 2026.

Others argue that the country provides a useful role in keeping communication lines open between belligerents and potentially defusing conflicts. Ultimately, efforts to keep a channel open for dialogue are dependent on “whether both Iran and the US intend to use it”, said Laurent Goetschel, director of the Swisspeace foundation.

More significant for the future of Switzerland’s role in international diplomacy in the Middle East, however, may be increased interest from powers such as China or states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey for involvement in diplomatic negotiations.

Before the recent attacks, Iran and Saudi Arabia restored ties in 2023 following a seven-year rupture in relations after mediation by ChinaExternal link. Switzerland wasn’t included in the process, in which Oman and Iraq were also involved, even though the Alpine nation had served as the protecting power for both sides since the third year of their diplomatic break.

“China carries more weight; we should have no illusions about this,” Fabian Molina, a foreign policy expert and member of Switzerland’s left wing Social Democratic Party, said at the time. “A new balance is forming, and China wants to position itself.”

>>China’s success in mediating between Iran and Saudi Arabia has come as a surprise to many:

Qatar, host of the US’s largest military base in the Middle East, was also the mediator in the 2023 deal to unfreeze $6 billion of Iranian funds, in exchange for the release of US citizens detained in Iran. Additionally, the Qataris helped persuade Iran to agree to a ceasefire last year after strikes by Israel and the US against military and nuclear sites.

Swiss voiced stronger concerns over US bombing

However, Switzerland still has credibility as a neutral non-Gulf state actor, particularly after Iran reacted to US and Israeli attacks last month with drone and missile strikes against potential negotiation partners in the region such as Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Also because Qatar refuses to mediate in the conflict while it’s attacked by Iran, as its foreign minister told Al Jazeera.

The Swiss have also voiced stronger concerns over US bombing than some other European countries after the attacks started on February 28.

“Switzerland is deeply alarmed about today’s attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran, as well as about the dangerous and rapidly expanding escalation following the military strikes and attacks on Gulf states and across the Middle East,” the foreign ministry said at the time. “Switzerland calls for full respect of international law, including the UN Charter and international humanitarian law.”

The country has leveraged goodwill in the Gulf from its neutral positions by partnering with countries in the region for negotiations. That was seen shortly before the start of the recent war in two rounds of talks between the Americans and Iranians in Geneva in which Oman acted as mediator and Switzerland as host.

“These complex processes to advance ceasefires and peace are rarely done by single mediators anymore,” Daniel Moeckli said. “It seems to me that there is still a considerable amount of trust in Switzerland as a peace- and dialogue-seeking actor in the region… Switzerland’s mediation know-how remains unmatched.”

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Edited by Tony Barrett /Benjamin von Wyl/sb