President Trump said Iran had agreed to the “highest level” inspections, hours after an Iranian official said there were “no detailed discussions on the nuclear issue,” as the two sides continued to present different narratives of their latest talks. Share full articleImageThe streets of Tehran earlier this month.Credit...Arash Khamooshi/Polaris for The New York Times See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra más de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de búsqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google Latest PinnedUpdated June 23, 2026, 1:53 p.m. ETLara JakesLeo Sands and Nick Cumming-Bruce Here’s the latest.President Trump and Iran offered conflicting accounts on Tuesday of whether Tehran had agreed to open some of its most sensitive nuclear sites to U.N. inspectors, one of several sharp disputes as top officials from both countries sought to secure support for a lasting peace agreement. After the latest marathon round of U.S.-Iran negotiations, dueling narratives have also emerged over two other key issues: the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz and frozen Iranian assets. The disputes reflect not just the high stakes of the talks, but also the morass of details still to be resolved. Iranian officials said Tuesday that in negotiations this week, their country did not make any commitment to comprehensive U.N. inspection of its nuclear program. In fact, they said, the matter was barely discussed. Esmail Baghaei, spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, said there was no plan to invite inspectors to nuclear sites that were hit by U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in June 2025. “They know they’re wrong,” President Trump said Tuesday at an event in Pennsylvania. Earlier, he had posted on social media that Iran had “fully and completely agreed to the highest level Nuclear inspections.” While talks were underway in Switzerland, U.S. and Iranian officials were staking out strong positions on other points of disagreement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, arriving in Abu Dhabi, said no country, including Iran, is allowed to charge fees or tolls for passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has indicated it plans to do. He also said that “you can’t have an end to hostilities and conflicts in the region” unless armed groups supported by Iran also halt their attacks. Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, told state media that curbs on his country’s missile capabilities would “never” would be a part of a future peace agreement. “If we did not have our missiles, which are for our self-defense, Israel and America would have plowed through Iran the way they did Gaza,” he said at a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan. But Iran’s nuclear program remains the top issue for the American side. If Iran had not committed to international inspections, Mr. Trump said, he would have called off the peace negotiations. The chief of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency, Rafael Grossi, said in an interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK-World published on Tuesday that inspections would commence, “the sooner the better,” but he did not say whether Iran had made a specific commitment, or how much access inspectors would have. Iran, which has long insisted its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, blocked inspectors from most of its nuclear sites after last year’s attacks by Israel and the United States. Diplomacy: Top U.S. and Iranian officials flew across the region to rally support in the negotiations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was headed to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, and its lead negotiator in the talks, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, met in Oman with its leader. And President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran met with the president and prime minister of Pakistan, a key mediator in the U.S.-Iran talks. Strait of Hormuz: The International Maritime Organization and the government of Oman said on Tuesday said that they have a plan to help hundreds of ships trapped in the Persian Gulf pass through the Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, 39 vessels went through the strait, capping the busiest three-day period since the Iran war started, but the traffic is still a fraction of what it was before the war, according to a ship-tracking company, Kpler. Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said in a meeting with Iran’s president in Islamabad that he would travel to Tehran next week to pay respects to Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at the invitation of President Masoud Pezeshkian. Sharif said the visit would reaffirm Pakistan’s solidarity with “the brotherly people of Iran.” Iranian state media has announced several days of funeral ceremonies for Ayatollah Khamenei in early July, including events in Tehran, Qom and Mashhad, where the late Supreme Leader is expected to be buried. The ayatollah, who was 86, was killed in an airstrike in late February. President Trump just told reporters on a visit to Pennsylvania that Iranian officials who say they have not agreed to let International Atomic Energy Agency experts inspect their nuclear sites are “wrong.” “They know they’re wrong,” he said, adding, “If they were right, I’d cancel the meetings right now.” Trump, who was in the state to speak about the economy, said the inspectors would be on the ground “at the appropriate time” but added there was “no rush.” A system is in place to move stranded ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a U.N. agency says.ImageHundreds of ships have been stranded in the Persian Gulf since the war began, waiting for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.Credit...ReutersA United Nations agency said on Tuesday that it had started a plan to evacuate the hundreds of ships and thousands of mariners that became stranded in the Persian Gulf during the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. The International Maritime Organization said the operation to move vessels through the Strait of Hormuz would be carried out in cooperation with the United States, Oman and Iran, among other Gulf states. “We have secured the necessary safety guarantees and have thoroughly verified the conditions for safe navigation to support these operations,” Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the I.M.O., said in a statement. The number of ships leaving the strait has picked up as Iran and the United States began negotiations to try to forge a long-term peace deal, but the traffic is still below prewar levels. The I.M.O. said as many 600 ships were still stuck in the Gulf. Iran attacked commercial vessels during the war, deterring shipping companies from passing through the strait. They have idled in the Gulf with their crews aboard for more than three months. Even as the war wound down in recent weeks, many ship operators stayed in the Persian Gulf, waiting for a clear signal that it was safe to go through the strait. Michelle Wiese Bockmann, an analyst with Windward, a maritime intelligence firm, said the evacuation plan would be “most welcome for those stranded vessels yet to exit because of safety and security risks.” A spokeswoman for the I.M.O. said that it had started contacting ships to start the evacuation. Oman’s defense ministry said on Tuesday that the evacuating ships should follow a route that runs close to the country’s coastline. For weeks, the U.S. military has been coordinating the passage of ships along those routes. Mr. Dominguez said 11,000 crew members had been stranded in the Gulf where, he said, they had suffered “months of hardship and distress.” According to the I.M.O., 46 ships were attacked during the war and 14 sailors killed. The shipping industry wants a return to prewar arrangements in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and a significant share of its natural gas were transported before the conflict. Before the war, ships paid no feels or tolls to go through. In the memorandum of understanding that Iran and the United States signed last week, Iran said vessels could go through the strait with no charge for 60 days. But Iran has taken steps that suggest it will try to charge vessels using the waterway. Commenting Tuesday on the talks with Iran, U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said, “No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway.” Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, told state media that Iran’s missile program was not a part of the preliminary deal to end the war, and would “never” be a part of a future agreement. “If we did not have our missiles, which are for our self-defense, Israel and America would have plowed through Iran the way they did Gaza” he said. Curbing Iran’s missile capabilities is a major concern for Israel, and it was a goal set by Trump administration officials early in the war. But when asked about the issue, Vice President JD Vance has said that it was impossible to tell any country that it could not defend itself. The American secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said that language in the interim U.S.-Iran agreement calling for “the permanent termination of the war on all fronts” applies to Iranian proxy groups around the Middle East. “You can’t have an end to hostilities and conflicts in a region as long as Iranian proxies are launching missiles and drones from Iraq, and are participating in terrorism, like Hamas did, and like Hezbollah did,” he said. Rubio added that the matter will be addressed “at the appropriate time in these negotiations.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said soon after arriving in Abu Dhabi on his first Middle East trip since the war began that neither Iran and nor other countries in the region can charge fees or a toll for passage through the Strait of Hormuz. When asked by a reporter whether the United States and its allies could guarantee freedom of navigation through the strait, Rubio said: “Well, that’s the law. It’s an international waterway. No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway. That’s existing international law. That’s the way it is in international waterways all over the world, and that’s the way we expect it’ll be here. So I don’t think we have anybody to convince around here in that regard. I think all the countries in this region would agree with us.” The International Maritime Organization and the government of Oman said on Tuesday said that they have a plan to help hundreds of ships through the Strait of Hormuz. The vessels, with about 11,000 mariners, have been trapped in the Persian Gulf for months, since the war shut down most traffic through the strait. “This large-scale operation will be carried out in close cooperation with Iran, Oman, all other coastal States in the region, the United States and the maritime industry,” the I.M.O. secretary-general, Arsenio Dominguez, said in a statement. “We have secured the necessary safety guarantees,” he added. Oman’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that safe routes had been designated, and that ships “will be contacted individually and provided with further instructions.” They did not say how long it will take to clear the logjam.
Original Source: NYTimes
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