US-Iran Nuclear Inspections Dispute Clouds 60-Day Window as Ceasefire Talks Face New Strains

ISLAMABAD — The United States and Iran remained at odds Tuesday over whether Tehran had agreed to allow United Nations inspectors access to bombed Iranian nuclear sites, a dispute that threatened to undermine efforts to finalize a war-ending agreement as a 60-day diplomatic window ticked forward on multiple fronts.

The conflict over nuclear inspections surfaced hours after U.S. Vice President JD Vance said aboard Air Force One that Iran had committed to allowing International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to visit facilities targeted by American airstrikes last year. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei rejected that account immediately, telling reporters in Tehran that no such IAEA visit was scheduled, throwing the talks into public confusion on the second-to-last day before the deadline looms.

“The effectiveness of the talks depends on full commitment to the agreed obligations and their precise implementation,” Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian told Pakistani officials during a visit to Islamabad, his first since the United States and Israel launched their joint military campaign against Iran on February 28. The Iranian delegation, which included Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, held talks with Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as part of the ongoing mediation effort.

Nuclear Inspections: Conflicting Accounts

The clash over inspections represents the most consequential disagreement since Washington and Tehran agreed to a preliminary framework in Switzerland earlier this month. Vance said Sunday that Iran had agreed to “long-term IAEA monitoring” as part of a 14-point memorandum of understanding, a characterization Baghaei firmly denied. The IAEA itself has not responded to requests for comment about any possible inspection role.

President Donald Trump weighed in on social media, insisting that Iran had agreed to nuclear inspections “long into the future” and warning that “there would be no further negotiations!” without that concession. The public contradiction between the two governments underscored how little has been settled despite months of indirect diplomacy mediated by Oman and Switzerland.

Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister leading technical discussions, told the state-run IRNA news agency that the two sides had established working groups on sanctions relief, nuclear issues, reconstruction, and monitoring. But whether those groups have produced agreement on the inspection question remains deeply unclear.

Stranded Seafarers and Hormuz

While negotiators grappled with the inspection dispute, the International Maritime Organization announced a separate breakthrough: a plan to evacuate approximately 11,000 seafarers stranded aboard vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas traded before the war began.

IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement that the evacuation was being coordinated with Iran, Oman, all other coastal states, the United States, and the maritime industry. “We have secured the necessary safety guarantees and have thoroughly verified the conditions for safe navigation to support these operations,” he said. The plan offers a measure of humanitarian relief after months in which hundreds of sailors were trapped aboard idled vessels in the region.

Ship traffic through the strait is beginning to resume. Data and analytics firm Kpler confirmed 39 vessels crossed through the waterway Monday, after roughly 92 crossings between Friday and Sunday. Prior to the outbreak of hostilities, approximately 100 ships transited the strait daily. The ceasefire, however, remains precarious. Iran briefly closed the strait again following the outbreak of fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon, underscoring how quickly regional violence can disrupt the broader diplomatic architecture.

Lebanon Ceasefire Under Pressure

That fragile equilibrium in Lebanon faced an immediate test Tuesday when Israeli soldiers opened fire in southern Lebanon, killing two people. The incident broke two days of calm following a ceasefire agreement brokered Saturday and marked the first deadly flare-up since the truce took effect. The Israeli military said troops fired at four Hezbollah members who were riding a bulldozer and a motorcycle after they entered a security zone and ignored warning shots. No Israeli airstrikes or artillery shelling were reported, and Hezbollah had not claimed any attacks as of Tuesday evening.

Iran has demanded that a full truce in Lebanon be included in any comprehensive agreement with Washington. The two sides agreed in Switzerland to establish a de-confliction mechanism to address the fighting, but the killing of the two men illustrated how quickly that arrangement could come under strain. A renewal of heavy fighting could threaten the broader diplomatic track, which depends on Iran restraining its regional proxy networks as part of any final deal.

What Comes Next

Negotiators face a compressed timeline. The 60-day window, agreed to in outline form in Switzerland, requires the two sides to reach agreement on sanctions relief, nuclear verification, the status of frozen Iranian assets, and the regional ceasefire architecture before it expires. Officials from both governments have acknowledged privately that key issues remain unresolved, and the public dispute over inspections suggested that the gap between the two sides on the most sensitive question may be wider than previously disclosed.

Araghchi is expected to travel to Muscat for further talks with Omani mediators this week, and a senior U.S. delegation is anticipated in a third country before the end of the month. The coming days will test whether the two governments can translate their preliminary understanding into a binding accord, or whether the disagreements that surfaced Tuesday will prove insurmountable.