Vice President JD Vance said Monday that a framework agreement with Iran includes immediate access for international nuclear inspectors and a commitment to dismantle Tehran's highly enriched uranium stockpile.
In an interview with NBC News, Vance stated that the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United States will jointly oversee the destruction of Iran's nuclear material as a central component of the memorandum of understanding designed to end the regional conflict. "One of the core parts of the agreement is that the IAEA and the United States are going to help Iran destroy the highly enriched stockpile, and that's something that's spelled out very clearly," he said.
The two countries reached the framework agreement, with a formal signing ceremony scheduled for Friday in Switzerland. Vance confirmed that the full text of the MOU will be released after the signing, following a timeline announced by President Donald Trump.
When pressed about the delay in releasing the agreement's language, Vance attributed it to implementation logistics rather than substantive disagreements. "There's some technical details to work out, not related to the text of the MOU itself, but the implementation," he explained. He noted that mediators from Qatar and Pakistan played key roles in bringing both sides together.
The vice president suggested that negotiations over the start date for inspections could conclude at Friday's ceremony. "Because there's broad agreement on this, there isn't a whole lot of disagreement on this particular issue, that should happen very quickly," Vance said, adding that swift Iranian compliance would unlock economic benefits under the agreement.
Vance pushed back against skepticism from former President Barack Obama, who recently questioned whether a Trump administration deal would meaningfully differ from the 2015 nuclear accord his team negotiated. Trump withdrew from that agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, during his first term.
"If you go back to the Obama JCPOA, what it did is it took an Iranian nuclear program that it accelerated, and it basically bribed the Iranians to stop that program," Vance countered. "We're in a totally different position here. The Iranian nuclear program has been completely destroyed, and what we're saying is: Make the long-term commitment not to rebuild it, and you will get the benefits that come with that."
Vance also addressed Iranian statements about imposing fees on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil shipping route. The agreement stipulates toll-free passage for the first 60 days of final negotiations. "It's very clear here that what some elements within Iran are going to say is they're going to try to emphasize or overemphasize certain benefits that the Iranians get, while underemphasizing what the United States gets," he said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged the framework in a statement Monday, calling it "an important step toward stopping the war and beginning negotiations," while cautioning that "a final agreement has yet to take shape."
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Vance's confident tone masks real uncertainty about whether Iran will comply and whether the agreement survives the transition from framework to final deal."
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