Disagreement over nuclear inspections clouds US-Iran deal

The US and Iran were in dispute on Tuesday over whether Tehran had agreed to allow UN inspectors to view bombed Iranian nuclear sites, as officials mediated talks on a permanent end to their war, seafarers were promised evacuation through the Strait of Hormuz and violence broke out again in Lebanon.

The differing accounts came as Iran’s president met Pakistani officials mediating negotiations and while technical teams were working on details following talks in Switzerland between the US and Iran.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran that UN inspectors were not scheduled to examine the nuclear sites bombed by the US last year, refuting comments made a day earlier by US Vice President JD Vance.

In response, President Donald Trump posted on social media that Iran had agreed to nuclear inspections long into the future, saying that without this concession “there would be no further negotiations!”.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not responded to requests for comment over its possible role.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi joined President Masoud Pezeshkian on the visit to Islamabad.

Mr Vance had said that the negotiations in Switzerland won an agreement for IAEA inspectors to visit Iranian nuclear sites.

It came as the International Maritime Organisation said a plan is under way to evacuate 11,000 stranded seafarers through the Strait of Hormuz.

Its secretary-general, Arsenio Dominguez, said in a statement that “this large-scale operation will be carried out in close co-operation with Iran, Oman, all other coastal states in the region, the United States and the maritime industry”.

The IAEA, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, has been in and out of Iran since Israel’s 12-day war against Iran in 2025 but has not been granted access to the bombed enrichment sites targeted by the US in that war.

Security was tight in the area of Islamabad where the Iranian president met Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. It was his first visit since the conflict started with the American and Israeli attack on Iran on February 28.

In the initial talks, marking the start of a 60-day diplomatic process that seeks to reach a permanent deal to end the Iran war, Iran and the US agreed to create a “de-confliction cell” to address the fighting in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia group.

The US said negotiators also discussed “mechanisms” to ensure the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the transit of oil that Iran had effectively blocked during the war, remains open.

Ahead of his meetings in Pakistan, Mr Pezeshkian cautioned that “the effectiveness of the talks depends on full commitment to the agreed obligations and their precise implementation”.

“Progress on this path will be measured by practical adherence to accepted responsibilities,” he wrote on X. “Statements outside the agreed text do not help advance the negotiations.”

Iran suggested the ongoing technical talks in Switzerland have led to the creation of specific negotiation groups, which include those focused on sanctions relief, nuclear issues, reconstruction and monitoring, according to a report by the state-run IRNA news agency.

It quoted Kazem Gharibabadi, a deputy foreign minister leading the technical talks, as saying that the countries involved also formed a contact mechanism over ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz and over the fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.

It remains unclear whether the de-confliction cell being created will be enough to stop fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, which occupies part of Lebanon and insists it must maintain a free hand to attack militants who are launching attacks into northern Israel.

Mediators Pakistan and Qatar said the cell would include the Lebanese government and would “ensure the adherence of the termination of military operations in Lebanon” but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised new questions late on Monday, saying his military still has “full freedom of action to thwart any direct or emerging threat to them or to the residents of the north”.

Neither Israel nor Hezbollah are signatories to the US-Iran deal, and Mr Netanyahu has vowed to keep his forces in southern Lebanon until any threat to Israel is eliminated. Hezbollah has refused to halt attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawing.

Mr Trump later said “we’re going to take a look at it”, when asked about Mr Netanyahu’s comments, adding that he would not say what action he would take but that the situation would “get solved”.

It came as the Pentagon told senators it needs roughly 80 billion dollars (£60.5 billion), mostly to cover the cost of the war against Iran, adding to what is already a sizable military spending boost being sought by Mr Trump.

The White House Office of Management and Budget has yet to make a formal request to Congress but Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill, including on Monday evening.

Meanwhile, violence flared again in southern Lebanon as Israeli soldiers opened fire, killing two people.

The reports of violence came after two days of calm following a ceasefire brokered on Saturday. Any renewal of heavy fighting could threaten the broader diplomatic talks, since Iran has demanded that a full truce in Lebanon be part of any comprehensive deal.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in the United Arab Emirates on the first leg of a three-nation tour of Gulf countries aimed at easing their concerns about the result of the agreement intended to end the war with Iran.

Mr Rubio arrived in Abu Dhabi late on Tuesday following the two-day flurry of diplomatic activity between the US and Iran in Switzerland.