After the first round of peace talks between Washington DC and Tehran at Bürgenstock Resort near Lake Lucerne in Switzerland on June 22, 2026, US Vice President James David Vance claimed that the Islamic Republic agreed to allow nuclear inspectors to resume inspections in the West Asian country. However, Tehran denied Vance’s claim on June 23, stating that it had made “no new commitments” on nuclear inspections.

Speaking at a press conference in Switzerland, Vice President Vance stressed that Iranian officials agreed to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors back into their country as a precondition of the ongoing peace process. He said that Iran’s agreement for IAEA inspectors to return to their country was “a major milestone for the American people, and the first step in permanently denuclearising or permanently ending a nuclear weapons programme in Iran”.

It may be noted that Iran and the IAEA signed a cooperation agreement in Cairo on September 9, 2025, allowing the agency to resume nuclear inspections and monitor Tehran’s nuclear activities. However, President Masoud Pezeshkian‘s government subsequently refused to grant permission. In November 2025, Iran formally wrote to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, announcing the September agreement was considered terminated. Tehran’s decision was heavily influenced by the reinstatement of UN sanctions and censure resolutions submitted by the US and the European troika – the UK, France and Germany.

On June 23, Esmaeil Baqaei, the spokesperson of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, rejected Vance’s claim, saying that Tehran had no plans to allow inspectors to access nuclear sites bombed by the US and Israel in 2025. According to the spokesperson, members of the Iranian delegation made “no new commitments” on nuclear inspectors in Switzerland. He made it clear that any engagement with UN inspectors would take place “under existing procedures set by the (Iranian) Parliament and the Supreme National Security Council“.

A couple of hours after Baghaei’s comments, US President Donald John Trump claimed that Iran had “fully and completely agreed to highest level nuclear inspections long into the future (Infinity!)” He wrote in a post on Truth Social: “This will insure ‘nuclear honesty’. If they did not agree to this, there would be no further negotiations!” The President added: “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. However, all ships are remaining in place should it be necessary to reinstitute the blockade, which seems, at this point, highly unlikely.”

Meanwhile, the IRNA state news agency of the Islamic Republic has quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi as saying that the negotiators “decided that four working groups would be established: Sanctions Termination, Nuclear Affairs, Reconstruction and Economic Development, and Monitoring and Implementation”. By issuing this statement, the minister hinted that Iran and the US would discuss the Iranian nuclear programme for the next 60 days and Tehran would take a final call in this regard only after the conclusion of the discussion.

Interestingly, Iran and Oman declared their sovereign rights over Strait of Hormuz after the peace talks in Switzerland, with Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf announcing that the Strait would henceforth be administered by Tehran. He stressed: “The Strait of Hormuz will never return to its prewar conditions and will be administered by the Islamic Republic of Iran, in accordance with international law.”

It seems that officials of Iran and the US would have to work really hard for the next couple of months to bridge deep mutual distrust, resolve critical points of friction (including resolving the war in Lebanon and unfreezing Iranian assets) and to reach an amicable solution on various sensitive issues.

Meanwhile,

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das