Iran has agreed to allow nuclear inspectors back into the country, the US vice-president, JD Vance, announced on Monday, hours after the first face-to-face talks between Washington and Tehran in Switzerland ended with what mediators called a “roadmap” towards a final deal within 60 days.
Speaking in Switzerland, Vance said a “great deal of progress” had been made, and that discussions between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) could begin “as soon as today”. The nuclear issue, he told reporters, was “probably the one we’re most excited about as Americans” – a major shift after years of mistrust and a 12-day war in June 2025 that saw Iran suspend IAEA access to sites bombed by Israel and the US.
“Vance says Iran will readmit nuclear inspectors after first US-Iran talks; Trump simultaneously threatens to take over Strait of Hormuz.”
The breakthrough follows the signing of a 14-point memorandum of understanding last week by President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian. The MOU includes a commitment to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and to end fighting on “all fronts”, including Lebanon. Vance said teams had also discussed “de-confliction for the regional ceasefire”.
But even as Vance struck an upbeat tone, Trump himself issued a fresh threat over the strategic waterway. “If we have to, we’ll take it over,” the president warned, hours after the talks ended.
The first round of negotiations, mediated by Pakistan’s prime minister and jointly sponsored by Qatar, produced a joint statement saying the US and Iran had agreed to “a roadmap towards reaching a final deal within 60 days”. Vance described the talks as laying a “very good foundation” for a final settlement.
Iran has long insisted its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only, but the IAEA and many countries remained unconvinced. The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – signed by Iran and six world powers including the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany – had allowed the IAEA access to all of Iran’s nuclear facilities. Trump withdrew the US from that deal in 2018, calling it a “bad deal” because it was not permanent and did not address Iran’s ballistic missile programme.
Now, Vance said, the nuclear issue is a “major milestone for the American people and a first step in permanently… ending a nuclear weapons programme in Iran”. Asked when inspectors would return, he said he expected the process to start “at a minimum this week”, but that conversations with the IAEA “could happen as soon as today”.
The MOU specifically references the IAEA and addresses Iran’s stockpile of enriched nuclear material. Whether the inspectors’ return can survive the president’s latest threat over the Strait of Hormuz remains an open question.