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Iran said Monday that its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would continue under the existing framework and in line with decisions by parliament and the Supreme National Security Council, rejecting U.S. claims that Tehran had made new commitments on nuclear inspections.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran "had not made any new commitments to any party" regarding cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
Baghaei said informed sources from the 18-hour talks with the U.S. in Switzerland on Sunday confirmed that no negotiations were held over Iran's nuclear file and that no new commitments were undertaken.
Baghaei said any future nuclear negotiations under the Islamabad memorandum of understanding would be conditional on the implementation of Article 13 of the agreement.
Article 13 of the memorandum is understood to be a key precondition for launching formal talks on nuclear-related issues, though its exact provisions have not been publicly disclosed.
Baghaei earlier said the Switzerland talks had focused on unresolved provisions of the Islamabad memorandum, particularly ending the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and releasing Iran's frozen assets.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said early Monday that negotiations with the U.S. in Switzerland, facilitated by Pakistan and Qatar, had produced "significant progress" toward ending the war in Lebanon and easing pressure on Iran's economy.
Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Monday reiterated his claim that Iran had agreed to allow nuclear inspectors back into the country, while Tehran denied making any new commitments on its nuclear program.
"We have the Iranians allowing weapons inspectors, nuclear inspectors into their country for the first time in a long time. We're obviously going to bolster that inspection regime to make sure they can never have a nuclear weapon," Vance told reporters before departing Switzerland after talks with Iranian officials.
Vance said the new round of negotiations in Burgenstock laid "a foundation for what could be a truly transformed Middle East," while stressing that a final agreement had not yet been reached.
Technical-level discussions between U.S. and Iranian teams will continue in the coming days, with both sides remaining engaged in Switzerland.
"We continue to make progress on these technical negotiations. We left a lot of our team, the Iranians left a lot of their team at the resort there to keep on working at," Vance said.
"I feel great about the progress that we made over the last couple of days," he added.
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