Iran: No, We Didn't Agree to Inspections

Iran is publicly contradicting a key claim out of Washington. A day after Vice President JD Vance hailed what he called "a major milestone" in talks—saying Tehran had agreed to let UN nuclear inspectors into its facilities—Iran's Foreign Ministry said it had no intention of opening any war-damaged nuclear sites to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran sharply curbed inspections after the US exited the 2015 nuclear deal that included them and further restricted them following US-Israeli strikes in June 2025. Foreign Ministry rep Esmail Baghaei said access would not be restored now, per the New York Times. There are no such plans and "no established protocol for such a situation," he told Iranian state media, per ABC News.

President Trump responded Tuesday, accusing Baghaei of making "false statements." "Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infinity!!!)" he wrote on Truth Social, per Reuters, adding, "If they did not agree to this, there would be no further negotiations!" He also said ships remained in place in case it was necessary to resume the US naval blockade. The IAEA has not weighed in on the dueling accounts, though inspectors visited Iran's Bushehr plant in recent weeks, the Times reports. The conflicting versions from Tehran and Washington threaten to complicate efforts to convert last week's preliminary agreement into a final deal meant to shape the future of Iran's nuclear activities.