U.S. and Iran in dispute over whether Tehran has agreed to nuclear inspections

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ISLAMABAD -- The U.S. and Iran were in dispute Tuesday over whether Tehran had agreed to allow UN inspections of its nuclear sites. As officials negotiated over how to permanently end the war in Iran, a plan emerged to break the shipping bottleneck through the Strait of Hormuz.

The disagreement over nuclear inspections came as Iran’s president met with Pakistani mediators and technical teams from the U.S. and Iran continued talks in Switzerland.

A United Nations agency said Tuesday that a plan was underway to evacuate 11,000 stranded seafarers through the strait vital to global energy supplies and which Iran had blocked after the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28.

Earlier in the day, a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Esmail Baghaei, told reporters in Tehran that UN inspectors were not scheduled to examine nuclear sites bombed by the U.S. last year, refuting comments made a day before by U.S. Vice-President JD Vance. In response, U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media that Iran had agreed to nuclear inspections long into the future, saying that without this concession “there would be no further negotiations!”

The International Atomic Energy Agency has not responded to requests for comment over its possible role. It has been in and out of Iran since Israel’s 12-day war in 2025, but has not been granted access to bombed enrichment sites targeted by the U.S.

Iran’s maintains that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, though it has highly enriched uranium that could be used to build atomic bombs, should it choose to do so, the IAEA has said.

Plan to evacuate stranded seafarers through Strait of Hormuz

The plan to evacuate thousands of seafarers is being done in cooperation with Iran, Oman, all other coastal states in the region, the United States and the maritime industry, according to the secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, Arsenio Dominguez.

“We have secured the necessary safety guarantees and have thoroughly verified the conditions for safe navigation to support these operations,” he said in a statement.

But the uneasy ceasefire already has been tested by Iran saying it closed the strait again over fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon. Violence again broke out in Lebanon Tuesday.

The U.S. has said that negotiators have discussed “mechanisms” to ensure that the strait, which Iran effectively blocked during the war, remains open. Ship traffic is increasing but questions remain about who controls the passageway.

Data and analytics company Kpler confirmed 39 ships crossed through the strait Monday, after about 92 crossings between Friday and Sunday. Prior to the war, roughly 100 ships a day made the journey.

Two U.S. aircraft carriers were continuing to operate in the Middle East, the U.S. military’s Central Command said.

Iran’s president makes his first visit to Islamabad since the war started

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday discussed a range of issues, including regional peace and economic co-operation, according to a statement from the presidency in Islamabad.

It was the Iranian president’s first visit since the U.S. and Israel launched war on Iran. Pezeshkian and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif were to hold a joint news conference after the discussions.

In the initial talks, marking the start of a 60-day window to reach a permanent deal to end the war, Iran and the U.S. agreed to create a “de-confliction cell” to address the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Iran says negotiations focused on sanctions relief, nuclear issues and more

Iran said the talks in Switzerland led to the creation of negotiation groups focused on sanctions relief, nuclear issues, reconstruction, and monitoring, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. The report quoted Kazem Gharibabadi, a deputy foreign minister leading the talks there, as saying the countries also formed a way to discuss ships moving through Hormuz and the fighting in Lebanon.

In southern Lebanon Tuesday, Israeli soldiers opened fire and killed two people. That followed two days of calm after a ceasefire brokered Saturday. Any renewal of heavy fighting could threaten the broader diplomatic talks, since Iran has demanded that a full truce in Lebanon be part of any comprehensive deal.

Israel occupies part of Lebanon and insists it must be able to attack militants launching attacks into northern Israel.

The Israeli military said troops fired at four Hezbollah members who were riding a bulldozer and a motorcycle and had entered a security zone and failed to stop despite warning shots. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that the two men were killed next to a bulldozer clearing a road.

No Israeli airstrikes or shelling have been reported since Sunday and Hezbollah has not claimed any attacks in what has been the longest halt in the fighting since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war erupted in March.

Discrepancy on Iran’s use of unfrozen funds

Following the talks in Switzerland, Vance, who helped lead the negotiations, said if Iranian financial assets were unfrozen, they would be used to buy American-grown corn, wheat and soy.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday that Tehran’s decisions on what to import would be based on “prices and quality.”

“It is interesting that the philosophy and goal of the war, which was the destruction of the Iranian civilization and the collapse of Iran, has become enriching American farmers,” Baghaei said.

Iran’s ambassador in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, questioned Vance’s contention that the U.S. and Qatar would approve how Iran uses unfrozen funds. “Iran is the only country who decides what to do with those assets,” he told reporters.

Netanyahu raises new questions over fragile Lebanon ceasefire

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that his military still has “full freedom of action” in Lebanon to thwart any threats.

Neither Israel nor Hezbollah is a signatory to the U.S.-Iran deal. Netanyahu has vowed to keep his forces in southern Lebanon until threats to Israel are eliminated. Hezbollah has refused to halt attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawing.

When asked about Netanyahu’s comments, Trump said “we’re going to take a look at it,” adding that the situation would “get solved.”

The main highway leading south from Beirut was jammed Tuesday with people displaced from southern Lebanon returning to their homes. Among them was Hawraa Nour El-Din, from the village of Khirbet Selm.

“We don’t want the negotiations done by the government,” she said. “We want Iran to negotiate on our behalf, and we are returning victorious, whether everyone likes it or not.”

In Washington, the State Department said a new round of Israel-Lebanon talks began on Tuesday with both political and security issues on the agenda.

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By Munir Ahmed, David Rising And Jon Gambrell

Rising reported from Bangkok and Gambrell from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Abby Sewell in Beirut, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Josh Boak and Matthew Lee in Washington and Mae Anderson in New York contributed to this report.