Vance says Iran to restore nuclear inspector access

WASHINGTON — US Vice President JD Vance said Iran has agreed to restore the UN nuclear watchdog's access to the country, with inspections potentially starting as soon as Monday.

Speaking to reporters in the Swiss resort of Burgenstock, Vance said the International Atomic Energy Agency’s return to Iran would mark a “major milestone for the American people and the first step in permanently denuclearizing or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran.”

Vance said the inspections could begin “this week, maybe as soon as today." Hours later, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Tehran did not make any new nuclear-related commitments during Sunday’s talks mediated by Qatar and Pakistan. 

Cooperation with the IAEA will continue in “accordance with the approvals” of Iran’s parliament and “the decisions of [its] Supreme National Security Council,” Baghaei told reporters in Tehran on Monday. 

The IAEA was tasked with monitoring Iran's compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 nuclear deal that curbed Iranian nuclear activity in return for sanctions relief. Tehran began obstructing inspector access in 2018 after President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact in his first term. 

Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump said on Monday that "major weapons inspections" would be needed to "ensure Iran's ‘Nuclear Honesty’ long into the future.”

Iran, which insists its nuclear program exists for peaceful purposes only, is required to cooperate fully with the IAEA as a signatory of the 1970 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. But IAEA inspectors have been barred from Iran's main nuclear facilities since the US strikes on the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan sites last June.

A key concern is the country's estimated 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium that, if further enriched, could be used to develop as many as 10 nuclear weapons. The IAEA hasn’t been able to verify the material's location, though much is believed to be stored deep under the Isfahan nuclear complex. 

Vance spoke at the conclusion of high-level talks in Switzerland that followed the two sides’ signing last week of a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war and paving the way for 60 days of talks on Iran’s nuclear program.

It’s unclear how much progress can be made in that timeframe. At nearly 160 pages long, the 2015 nuclear agreement took the United States, Iran and major powers around two years to negotiate.

Iran's semiofficial Tasnim news agency said Monday that the Iranian delegation did not meet with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, who attended the Burgenstock talks. 

Grossi met Sunday with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis to discuss “recent developments regarding Iran, the path ahead and the important role of the IAEA,” he said in an X post. 

Earlier Monday, Iran said that negotiations on its nuclear program amounted to only a “brief discussion.” The talks instead centered on issues that the MoU was meant to resolve, including enforcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

In line with the memorandum, on Monday the US Treasury Department issued a two-month sanctions waiver authorizing the production, delivery and sale of Iranian crude oil.

This developing story has been updated since initial publication.