Iran has agreed to invite International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country, US Vice President JD Vance said Monday after the first round of US-Iran peace talks in Switzerland, where he said “very good progress” was made on resolving the crisis in Lebanon.

“The Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country,” Vance told reporters at the Burgenstock resort. He called Iran’s invitation to UN nuclear inspectors “a major milestone for the American people and the first step in permanently denuclearizing or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran.”

“We laid a very good foundation for a successful final deal,” Vance said. “The final deal is the house… We haven’t built the house, but we’ve laid a successful foundation to get to a good place for the American people.”

The IAEA has accused Iran of obstructing inspections and failing to give a full account of its highly enriched uranium stockpile after the material was apparently buried in US strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites during last June’s 12-day Israel-Iran war.

Vance’s comments came after Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said that outside of an unspecified “brief discussion,” the talks in Switzerland had not touched on Iran’s nuclear program.

“One of the points raised by the American delegation was the presentation of its positions regarding the nuclear issue,” Baghaei said. “A very brief discussion took place regarding the nuclear issue, but there was no discussion of details, and it cannot be said that negotiations on the nuclear issue have begun.”

While Iran, whose leaders are sworn to destroy Israel, denies seeking nuclear arms, it has amassed uranium enriched to levels with no peaceful application.

Israel and the US launched a bombing campaign on Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize its regime and destroy its ballistic missile and nuclear programs, but the fighting entered a truce on April 8 with none of those goals achieved.

Vance: Washington wants to restrict Iran’s unfrozen funds to purchasing US produce

Speaking at Burgenstock, Vance indicated the US is seeking to restrict the use of unfrozen Iranian assets to purchasing produce from US farmers for the “benefit” of the Iranian people, rather than terrorism.

According to Vance, the scheme was worked out by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and unofficial adviser........

© The Times of Israel