Vance Says Nuclear Inspectors Will Enter Iran

Vice President JD Vance said Monday that Iran agreed to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency into the country.

“That is a major milestone for the American people and the first step in permanently denuclearizing — or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran. And that’s exactly what we wanted to do, that’s exactly what we asked to happen. We made a lot of great progress on other nuclear talks,” Vance said, adding that inspectors could arrive this week.

Iran already agreed to halt its nuclear weapons program and submit to IAEA supervision in a memorandum of understanding signed last week. Vance said American officials will reach out to inspectors on Monday, and “technical negotiations” would continue in Switzerland this week with Iran, Qatar and Pakistan.

The vice president also said that the U.S. and Qatar will approve specific Iranian assets to unfreeze, with provisions that stipulate the funds be used for buying American soy, corn and wheat for Iran — an idea that Vance said originated with special envoy Jared Kushner.

Vance said the provisions were to ensure “that money, that Iranian money, goes to help the people of Iran and not to fund terrorism.”

He added that Iranian negotiators agreed to remove mines from the Strait of Hormuz — another point contained in the MOU — and will participate in “deconfliction” and “coordination” mechanisms to prevent the escalation of future conflicts both in the strait and the broader region.

“We wanted to make sure that we had the proper coordination set up so that if there is a shooting, if Hezbollah fires at Israel, or if Israel responds, if there are other conflicts that arise in the region, we’re actually talking to each other and figuring out how to stop the shooting,” Vance said.

Lebanon agreed with the negotiating parties to the creation of a “de-confliction cell” to ensure military operations in the country end in accordance with the MOU, Qatar and Pakistan announced in a joint statement released Monday.

The vice president told reporters the agreements were “great progress” toward a final deal.

“We haven’t built the house, but we’ve laid a successful foundation to get to a good place for the American people,” Vance said.

Qatar and Pakistan announced in their joint statement that negotiations regarding the nuclear program, sanctions and “monitoring and dispute resolution” regarding the MOU would continue.

Trump digitally signed the MOU last week, White House officials said, giving the U.S. and Iran 60 days to negotiate a final nuclear agreement backed by a United Nations Security Council resolution. Either side can cancel talks, though President Donald Trump said that risks restarting the military conflict.

“If it doesn’t get done in 60 days, it’s all right. We go back to bombing,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday. “I don’t want to do that … but we might have to, because we’re never going to let them have a nuclear weapon.”