Vance says Iran nuclear inspectors will return under deal terms

JD Vance put verification at the center of the emerging U.S.-Iran deal, saying nuclear inspectors would “absolutely” return to Iran under the agreement’s terms. But the public still did not have the full memorandum of understanding, and Vance said its text would not be released until Friday, leaving the key test of the accord outside public view.

That gap matters because inspections are the first concrete measure anyone can use to judge whether Iran can be monitored after the war. The unresolved terms include what happens to Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile and the future of its nuclear program, two issues that will determine whether the agreement limits risk or simply postpones it. Vance has also said there were still “a lot of important details” left to negotiate, underscoring that the deal’s core enforcement questions remained open.

Concurrent reporting said an official signing ceremony was set for Friday in Geneva, and a senior U.S. official described the memorandum as already signed in principle. The framework was not a final treaty but a non-binding memorandum of understanding, with the two sides given 60 days to work out the remaining issues. Arms-control analysts said that period functioned as a negotiation window for a more durable nuclear agreement, rather than a finished settlement.

Other coverage said the broader framework would reopen the Strait of Hormuz immediately without tolls and tie sanctions relief to compliance. That combination made verification even more consequential: if inspectors cannot return quickly, or if access is limited, neither sanctions relief nor claims of compliance will be easy to measure. Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium is especially sensitive, because the handling of that material can shape how quickly the country could move back toward a weapons capability.

The timeline and secrecy were likely to draw scrutiny from lawmakers, regional governments and arms-control experts, all of whom will be watching for the details that Vance said were still being negotiated. For now, the administration’s assurances rested on a promise that inspectors would come back and on a document the public had not yet seen. Until the memorandum is disclosed, the real substance of the deal will remain in the unresolved questions: who inspects, what they can access, and what happens if Iran fails to comply.