Iran live updates: Trump says ‘no further Naval Blockade,’ saying Iran agreed to nuclear inspections
President Donald Trump announced “major combat operations” against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.
Delegations from the United States and Iran arrived over the weekend at the Bürgenstock resort in Switzerland, where they entered negotiations aimed at a war-ending deal based on a memorandum of understanding signed last week by both countries.
Trump says ‘no further Naval Blockade,’ saying Iran agreed to nuclear inspections
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iranian officials agreed “fully and completely” to allow inspections of its nuclear sites, saying the Strait of Hormuz would remain open as long as Tehran held to those terms.
Iran’s Foreign Minister spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said early on Tuesday that Tehran does not “have any plans” to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to access sites damaged during the war, according to Iranian state media.
Despite Iran’s “protestations and false statements to the contrary,” officials in Tehran have “fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infinity!!!),” Trump said on social media on Tuesday. “This will insure ‘Nuclear Honesty.’ If they did not agree to this, there would be no further negotiations!”
“Based on this and other major concessions being made by Iran, I have agreed to allow the Hormuz Strait to remain OPEN, with no further Naval Blockade,” Trump added. “However, all ships are remaining in place should it be necessary to reinstitute the Blockade, which seems, at this point, highly unlikely.”
Iran and the United States agreed to allow traffic through the strait as part of the terms of the memorandum of understanding signed last week by both countries.
IAEA visits to Iran have not been planned, Iranian official says
Iran does not “have any plans” to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to access sites damaged during the war, the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Esmail Baghaei, said on Tuesday, according to Iranian state media.
“Fundamentally, there is no established protocol for such a situation,” he said, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.
Iran’s delegation did not meet with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi during the U.S.-Iranian talks in Switzerland, IRNA reported.
Vice President JD Vance said on Monday during a news conference in Lucerne, Switzerland, that Iran had agreed to allow the United Nations-affiliated IAEA inspectors to enter their country.
“The Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country,” Vance told reporters at Bürgenstock, the Swiss resort where the talks were held.
He added, “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.”
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Rubio held calls with Netanyahu, Lebanese president
In addition to speaking with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Secretary of State Rubio also held a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to discuss “solidifying” a ceasefire and “future talks,” a U.S. official confirmed.
As a result of those calls, the U.S. “started a monitoring mechanism via CENTCOM so that our policymakers have real time and accurate information about fighting in Lebanon,” the official said.
The official also confirmed that another round of talks between representatives of Israel and Lebanon are set to take place in Washington this week over the course of three days.
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Vance says negotiators ‘making progress’ as he leaves talks in Switzerland
Vice President JD Vance left the first days of technical negotiations with Iran projecting optimism, telling reporters as he left Switzerland that he felt “great about the progress that we made.”
“The fundamental thing we got is, No. 1, we set up the mechanism to ensure not only the Straits of Hormuz are open, but will stay open,” Vance said.
“… No. 2, we actually set up the right mechanism to ensure the regional cease fire to manage the inevitable conflicts that will come up,” Vance said.
Vance reiterated his earlier comments in which he said Iran will be allowing IAEA inspectors into the country.
Vance said the U.S. will have to “see” what Iran “actually let[s] the inspectors do” once they are in Iran.
“We have the Iranians allowing weapons inspectors, nuclear inspectors into their country for the first time in a long time. We’re obviously going to bolster those inspections, that inspection regime, to make sure they can never have a nuclear weapon,” Vance said.
Inspections were part of the Obama-era agreement that Trump canceled during his first term, after which Iran stopped letting international inspectors in.
Trump says Iran will have to ‘agree to have Major Weapons Inspections’
Hours after Vice President JD Vance announced from Switzerland that Iran agreed to let international nuclear inspectors into the country, President Donald Trump said on social media that Iran will have to “agree to have Major Weapons Inspections” for a long period of time.
“Everybody is fully aware that Iran will agree to have Major Weapons Inspections in order to ensure ‘Nuclear Honesty’ long into the future,” Trump said in the post.
Inspections were part of the Obama-era agreement that Trump canceled during his first term, after which Iran stopped letting international inspectors in.
Rubio to visit UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to visit the Middle East this week for the first time since the war with Iran began, with stops planned in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain, according to the State Department.
He is slated to leave Tuesday and return on Thursday.
US issues sanctions waivers on Iranian oil following MOU with Iran
The Trump administration has formally issued a waiver on the sale on Iranian oil, following through on a promise from the Memorandum of Understanding signed by President Donald Trump.
The waiver legalizes the sale of Iranian oil and allows transactions involving vessels that had been previously sanctioned.
The sanctions will be waived for a 60-day period beginning Monday and ending at 12:01 a.m. ET on Aug. 21.
The waiver also allows for “any payment of funds owed to Iran, the Government of Iran, or any blocked person for the purchase of crude oil” to be made in U.S. dollars.
The waiver does not, however, allow the sanctions on Iranian oil to be lifted for people in North Korea, Cuba and parts of Ukraine like Crimea.
Netanyahu says IDF forces will stay in southern Lebanon security zone
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israel Defense Forces will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon as “long as necessary” to protect residents in the north and the citizens of Lebanon.
Iranian official says technical talks begin in Switzerland
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said on Monday that technical talks between experts have begun in Switzerland under the framework of the memorandum of understanding, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported on Monday.
The technical talks follow Sunday’s discussions between high-level U.S. and Iranian delegations. Those talks ended early on Monday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shebhaz Sharif said.
Baqaei told IRNA that Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, is leading the Iranian delegation in the technical negotiations.
According to a joint statement issued by the mediators, the technical working groups will focus on nuclear issues, sanctions, monitoring mechanisms and dispute-resolution procedures, with negotiations set to continue in Switzerland through the end of the week.
-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian and Victoria Beaule
Iranian delegation leaves talks, heading back to Tehran
The Iranian delegation in Switzerland has left the talks and is heading back to Tehran, Iran’s state media reported early on Monday, citing the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, who is leading the Iranian delegation, “left the building where the negotiations were held on Monday, following approximately 18 hours of intensive dialogue and consultations,” Iran’s state broadcaster reported.
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule
US and Iran to seek ‘final deal’ within 60 days under newly agreed roadmap
The United States and Iran agreed on Sunday to negotiate toward a war-ending deal within a 60-day timeframe, according to Pakistan and Qatar, which are mediating the ongoing talks in Switzerland.
The delegations agreed on Sunday to create a “High Level” committee to “provide political oversight” for the talks, and that new committee in turn agreed to a 60-day roadmap, the mediators said in a joint statement early on Monday.
The fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group, remained a key point for Iranian negotiators going into Sunday’s talks, officials in Tehran said.
The U.S. and Iran agreed on Sunday to a “deconfliction cell,” a group that will include officials from Tehran and Washington alongside Lebanese officials. That group will seek “to ensure the adherence of the termination of military operations in Lebanon as per the MoU,” the mediators said.
Whether the “deconfliction cell” will be able to make headway in stopping the fighting in Lebanon will mark the “1st real test” for the talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Monday.
Israel’s defense minister said in a statement on Sunday that the Israel Defense Forces did not plan to leave the areas in southern Lebanon where they’re fighting Hezbollah.
Araghchi otherwise praised Pakistan and Qatar for delivering “major progress” for their efforts in ending the war.
“Technical talks will continue for the remainder of the week at the Burgenstock resort on all issues,” Pakistan and Qatar said in their joint statement. “The mediating parties will continue to do their utmost to ensure that the negotiations continue to be conducted in a constructive atmosphere with the aim of reaching a final deal.”