The Latest: Iran to invite watchdog inspection of nuclear sites, Trump envoy tells US lawmakers

Audio By Carbonatix

Iran will invite the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog to inspect its nuclear sites and begin identifying the locations of Tehran’s enriched material, President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff told U.S. lawmakers in a private briefing Thursday, according to two people familiar with the call.

Earlier in the day, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba endorsed direct negotiations with the U.S. in his first public response to the deal reached between the two countries.

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday said the U.S. Navy has, as part of the agreement to end the war, lifted its blockade on Iranian ports by allowing more than a dozen ships to pass through. Vance gave the update at a White House news briefing, where he also said the greatest amount of oil since the war began is now flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.

President Donald Trump has signed an agreement with Iran that calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and waives U.S.-backed sanctions on the country, immediately allowing Iran to sell its oil freely in a major concession from Washington, according to details released by both countries.

Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lashed out at NATO allies Thursday, announcing a six-month Pentagon review of American forces in Europe whose outcome will depend on how fast the Europeans take responsibility for their own security.

Here's the latest:

Trump bestowed the military’s highest honor on Marine Corps Maj. James Capers, Jr., Marine Corps Col. John W. Ripley, and Army Maj. Nicholas Dockery.

“These are great men, great people,” Trump said at a White House ceremony on Thursday. “We thank you and we will never, ever forget you.”

Capers and Ripley were honored for acts of bravery during the Vietnam War. Dockery was honored for saving fellow soldiers during a 2012 ambush in Afghanistan.

Trump presented awards to Capers and Dockery and awarded it posthumously to Ripley.

Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher told the U.N. Security Council that while Gaza is no longer classified as being in famine it remains in severe crisis six months after the ceasefire.

But he said: “Today, Palestinians in Gaza remain deprived of the basics that you would all demand for your own families: safety, shelter, clean water, healthcare, education.”

Gaza also remains the most dangerous place in the world to deliver aid, he said, pointing to almost 60 aid workers killed in nearly three years of war, over half the more than 1,000 killed globally.

Fletcher said 70% of Gaza’s population needs proper shelter, not one hospital is fully operational, sanitation conditions keep deteriorating amid “a stark increase in rate bites” and Israel still blocks generators, engine oil and spare parts.

He urged the council Thursday to ensure the opening of all border crossings and the immediate removal of Israeli restrictions on “essential survival items,” and for humanitarian customs waivers, long-term visas, the resumption of government-to-government convoys to Jordan, and scaled-up medical evacuations.

Fu Cong, pointed to the U.S.-Iran memorandum, which calls for discussions on Iran’s nuclear program, and said: “There has to be the direct talks for the technical discussion, right? So that’s OK. It’s a good thing.”

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, called the prospect of direct U.S.-Iran talks “interesting,” stressing that “Any agreement that would put an end to fighting is a welcome agreement.”

“People are sick and tired of being killed and living on their nerves. They need a break, so it’s good in that sense,” he said ahead of a U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

“Secondly, maybe they will now concentrate on the main subject, which is the question of Palestine, because it was hijacked for a long period of time,” he said.

In a statement by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council given to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Iran said it would not charge any fees to ships seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days, per the agreement signed Wednesday with the U.S.

Passage was free before the war, but Iran imposed tolls during the fighting. Ships will have to apply to transit with the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, an Iranian government agency that was formed in May to regulate the strait.

The authority will announce operational arrangements and technical details for transit through the Strait of Hormuz shortly, Iran said.

Iran also said it will work on clearing mines from the strait, per the agreement.

The largest and most well-funded pro-Israel political action committee is calling parts of the U.S. memorandum of understanding with Iran “vague” and demanding Congress play “a critical role” in ensuring a final agreement hold President Donald Trump to the goals he laid out at the outset of the war in February.

“A final deal must permanently an verifiably end the regime’s nuclear program,” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee says in a statement released Thursday.

The group says Trump’s stated objectives were to “obliterate Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and production capability, annihilate its navy, sever its support for terrorist proxies, and ensure the world’s leading state sponsor of terror never acquires a nuclear weapon.”

Several Republicans on Capitol Hill and pro-Trump influencers Thursday were saying the agreement signed by Trump leaves many of those questions unanswered.

Iran will invite the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency to inspect its nuclear sites and begin work on identifying and uncovering the locations of Tehran’s enriched material, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff told U.S. lawmakers Thursday in a private briefing.

The briefing was described by two people familiar with the conversation who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to share the closed-door details.

Witkoff told congressional leadership and members of national security-related committees that the memorandum of understanding that the U.S. struck with Iran did not include any side deals, but a side letter was drafted between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency extending the invitation.

Witkoff disclosed the existence of the letter and invitation in the briefing, according to the people.

Witkoff said the letter to IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi would enable him to bring U.S. nuclear inspectors to Tehran.

—By Will Weissert and Seung Min Kim

The Pentagon’s decision to rename the combatant command overseeing the Pacific relies on the same administrative workaround -- a secondary title -- that was used to rebrand the Defense Department as the “War Department.”

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command announced this week that it would restore its historical name of “U.S. Pacific Command,” honoring its roots and “fostering a sense of pride and collective spirit.”

However, a memo signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and reviewed by The Associated Press says that’s a “secondary title” that cannot be used for legal documents.

“Statutory references to United States Indo-Pacific Command shall remain controlling until changed subsequently in law,” the memo says. The name followed an act of Congress in 2018 during the first Trump administration.

Trump last year similarly granted the Defense Department its “secondary title” in an executive order. A proposal to legally change the name is making its way through Congress now.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei endorsed direct negotiations with the U.S. late Thursday in a statement read by state media.

“It is obvious that the face-to-face negotiations that will be held in the future will not mean accepting the enemy’s opinion,” he said.

It was Khamenei’s first reaction to the deal recently reached between Iran and the U.S. to end hostilities.

The supreme leader has not been seen in public since he was wounded in a strike at the start of the war.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on a group of Hezbollah-linked Lebanese officials, and members of a business network overseen by Alaa Hassan Hamieh. Included in the sanctions are Sleiman Antoine Frangie, the leader of the Lebanese Marada Movement and Mahmoud Qamati, deputy head of Hezbollah’s political council.

The U.S. alleges that the men use their influence to obstruct Lebanon’s peace process and delay the disarmament of the militant group.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said his agency will “hold accountable those who enable the group to undermine the Lebanese state and threaten prospects for lasting peace.”

The U.S. military has formally lifted the blockade of Iranian shipping, U.S. Central Command announced in a social media post Thursday.

The announcement comes just hours after Vice President JD Vance told reporters that 12.5 million barrels of oil went through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday and that the military has allowed “north of a dozen ships to go through our naval blockade.”

However, the post from U.S. Central Command said that U.S. Navy ships “will remain in the general area to make sure that all aspects of the agreement are adhered to, obeyed and in full force and effect.”

The U.S. Navy currently has more than a dozen ships, including two aircraft carriers, in the waters off Iran.

Asked about criticism Trump is facing from some Republicans, Vance urged them to “have a little bit of faith in the president of the United States.”

“The idea that he is going to strike a deal that’s bad for the American people, it’s preposterous” Vance said.

Vance added that the administration has to continue to explain the deal to American people.

“I think that when people get to understand not just the agreement, our negotiating posture as a country, they will realize this is an excellent thing for the American people,” Vance said. “That’s part of our job. We’ve got to tell the story about what this means for Americans.”

After having read the memorandum of understanding, critics in Congress show no signs of softening toward Trump’s deal.

“History demonstrates giving billions of dollars to the theocratic lunatics who want to kill you is an exceptionally bad idea,” Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said.

“And so I hope we don’t do that.”

And Democratic Sen. Chris Coons put it bluntly.

“Pathetic. Failure. Inevitable conclusion of a combination of never making the case to the American people, flawed strategic vision, lack grasp of the regional dynamics,” said Coons, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“How many ways, can I say, bad, bad, bad?”

Vance said that any of the investments in Iran totaling as much as $300 billion could involve “private money” from other countries in the region and “assumes a transformation in Iranian behavior.”

Vance said at the White House Briefing that if the United Arab Emirates wanted to invest in a “building a power plant” in Iran that U.S. sanctions currently forbid the transaction.

“And so what we’re saying is that if you behave and if the Emiratis themselves want to build a power plant, then we will do the sanctions relief necessary to make that possible,” Vance said. “The good thing about that is that it actually creates integration, which is leverage.”

The vice president on Thursday issued a warning against Israeli officials who criticize President Trump over the deal he reached with Iran.

During a news briefing at the White House, Vance lashed out at members of the Israeli government in a surprising rebuke to an ally government, warning them “Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time.”

He said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “to his credit, has not gone down this path” but blamed members of his Cabinet.

“The problem for Israel is not Donald J. Trump and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in,” Vance said.

Vance said he was “glad that the Pope has positive things to say about our MOU,” reiterating that “we’ve got to keep working at it to make sure that the Iranians honor the commitments that they’ve made.”

The pope this week called the agreement “an encouraging result of patient work of dialogue and negotiation.”

Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, visited the first American pope at the Vatican last year. The vice president discusses his conversion in his new book, released this week.

The vice president said he plans to lead negotiations with Iran, but a planned ceremony Friday appears to be up in the air.

“Our plan is to go to Switzerland, I don’t know exactly when,” Vance said. He added that the timing partly depends on when Iranian representatives can get there.

Vance initially had been expected to sign the agreement at a formal ceremony Friday, but Trump signed it Wednesday instead.

Vance said he negotiations kicked off by the agreement are expected to begin this weekend.

The vice president made the comment when he was asked about the contradictory messages from the administration this week about when they would release the text of the agreement and sign it.

The U.S. kept it secret for days until releasing it Wednesday and Trump deciding to formally sign it Wednesday instead of leaving it to a previously announced signing ceremony Vance was supposed to attend Friday in Switzerland.

Vance said the Iranians initially asked the U.S. to keep the text secret. He said he didn’t know why they made the request, but the U.S. agreed — until the Trump administration decided to release it because the American people wanted to see it.

He defended the existence of a “gentlemen’s agreements” with Iran about how it handles it uranium stockpiles and nuclear ambitions.

“So some of them are written down, but fundamentally, whether they’re written down or spoken, this is why we structured the deal that we did, because we don’t trust words,” Vance said at the White House briefing. “We trust action and we trust conduct.”

The vice president added: “Words don’t matter.”

Vance said the goal is to verify that Iran is meeting its promise to not enrich uranium and that it would allow inspectors “to destroy that highly enriched stockpile” of uranium.

While administration members have been “informally” keeping members of Congress up to date on the deal, Vance said a formal briefing would happen very soon — but didn’t say when.

“We’re going to ensure that the team briefs Congress and of course answers their questions,” he said, adding that the Capitol Hill schedule has played a part in timing.

The Senate is in session, but U.S. House members aren’t in Washington this week.

Vance also said the administration feels “quite confident” congressional approval wasn’t needed to lift sanctions on Iran.

The U.S. vice president said the agreement with Iran requires that it restrain Hezbollah and keep it from attacking Israel, with such attacks warranting a response from Israel.

He said there’s been “radical progress” in Lebanon with “less shooting,” but said with a ceasefire, “you’re still going to have these little flare ups from time to time.”

His remarks came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israeli forces will stay in southern Lebanon “for as long as Israel’s security needs require it.”

The vice president tried to clarify Trump’s statements Wednesday that it was acceptable for Iran to have ballistic missiles, a stunning statement since those missiles were initially a rationale for the conflict’s start in February.

Vance said at the White House briefing that the U.S. has “destroyed a substantial number of their ballistic missiles” as well as Iran’s “ballistic missile launchers.”

“They are not going to be able to build the kind of missiles that can broadly threaten the entire world, and that’s what the president of United States said yesterday,” Vance said. “And look, I mean, it’s very simple. You can’t tell a country, whether Israel or Iran, they’re not allowed to have any self-defense.”

Given the timing of when the deal was signed by both sides — and the time zones involved — Vance said Thursday is Day 1 for the 60-day negotiating period governing it.

The agreement calls for a permanent end to hostilities and starts a 60-day clock to reach a final deal on the future of Iran’s nuclear program, though Trump left the door open to resume attacks.

The deal also calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and waives U.S.-backed sanctions on the country, immediately allowing Iran to sell its oil freely in a major concession from Washington, according to details released by both countries.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance made the announcement Thursday at a White House news briefing, where he said more oil is now flowing through the Strait of Hormuz. The Republican vice president says more than 12.5 million barrels went through the shipping channel Wednesday night.

Vance says that’s the highest since the conflict began in late February. Vance says the U.S. is honoring its end of the early part of the agreement on the military side.

“So we’re also honoring our end of the early part of the agreement on the military side,” Vance said.

Vance cited it as an immediate benefit of the deal as he downplayed criticism that the agreement tilts in favor of Iran.

▶ Read more

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel’s military will stay in southern Lebanon, where it has occupied up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border.

The remarks were his first comment since the U.S.-Iran deal was signed. Netanyahu said Israel must “maintain a security zone in southern Lebanon, and it requires that we must not leave there as long as Israel’s security needs require it.”

He’s made similar comments in the past about Israel’s refusal to withdraw from southern Lebanon.

The U.S.-Iran deal to end the war in the Middle East, signed overnight, also calls for an end to the war in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting the militant Hezbollah group, but it’s unclear what that means in practice.

▶ Read more

Lawmakers on national security committees received the memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States on Thursday morning after asking for it for several days.

The Trump administration still hasn’t briefed lawmakers though, even members of leadership — a highly unusual delay.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday morning that he anticipates a briefing “early next week.”

The draft agreement calls for Iran’s highly enriched uranium to be “downblended” — or diluted — under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The two sides will work out the details during their negotiations as well as generally discuss Iran’s enrichment program, which it says it has a right to continue.

Iran developed the material in response to Trump’s scuttling of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear accord with world powers that prevented it from enriching uranium to high levels. He criticized the deal for giving Iran a huge windfall. But the interim deal outlines even more lucrative incentives if Iran reaches a new nuclear agreement.

One is the eventual lifting of all international sanctions, which would seem to go further than the 2015 accord. That agreement lifted sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program but kept others in place over what the U.S. alleged were Tehran’s support for terrorism and rights abuses.

The interim pact also promises a $300 billion fund for postwar reconstruction. It’s not clear where that money will come from — but Trump said the U.S. would not contribute.

The deal immediately waives, but doesn’t eliminate, sanctions Trump imposed on Iran’s oil exports, allowing it once again to sell its crude on the world market and restoring a revenue stream worth billions.

Last year, Iran earned an estimated $45 billion from oil sales. But it had only one major buyer, China, and had to ship its crude through a shadow fleet of tankers to elude sanctions, eating into its profits. Under the blockade since April, its exports have nearly ground to a halt.

With the waiver, Iran will likely be able to find more customers and sell its oil for higher prices.

Senior U.S. officials on Wednesday read the memorandum of understanding with Iran to journalists after days of secrecy over what is in the document.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to read the deal before a formal signing ceremony set for Friday. Iranian state TV later released text that largely tracked what the U.S. put out.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has been mediating between the sides, later said the leaders of the U.S. and Iran had signed the deal and it “shall enter into force with immediate effect.”

▶ Read what’s in the deal