The Latest: Iran to invite watchdog inspection of nuclear sites, Trump envoy tells US lawmakers
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8:23 AM on Thursday, June 18
By The Associated Press
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:
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 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 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 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.
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.
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.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that the military will help “ensure Iran does the right thing at the table with this deal,” he said before boarding a plane.
“There’s not a lot of trust,” he said of the two sides, and Washington would be verifying that Tehran upholds its end of the peace.
“Iran’s going to have every opportunity to cut the kind of deal they should at the table, and if they don’t, the War Department will be right here ready to go,” he said after a meeting the NATO headquarters in Brussels where Hegseth lashed out at allies for not supporting the U.S. military to wage war on Iran.
“Whether it’s our military posture or it’s the carrots that exist to ensure Iran never has a nuclear weapon — all performance based,” Hegseth said. “We’re going to be the big stick behind the negotiations that never existed under President Obama.”
Phillip Belcher, marine director of Intertanko, a trade group for global independent tanker owners, said the main central route of the Strait of Hormuz is still closed and has an estimated 80 mines that need to be cleared.
But ships have been passing through the smaller Northern route, which goes through Iranian waters, and the Southern route, which goes through Omani waters.
“This is like a highway where the road in the middle is closed and you’re using that hard shoulder,” Belcher said. “That’s now being used as the main route. We need to get back to having the highway open.”
Major shipowners have begun moving vessels through the Strait of Hormuz since the memorandum of understanding was signed Wednesday, according to maritime data company Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
In a media briefing, Richard Meade, editor-in-chief of Lloyd’s List, said for the first time in 110 days, ships owned by major companies are transiting the strait after effectively being marooned there since February.
They did not give data on how many ships have passed through the strait as of Thursday. Tankers controlled by major ship owners Grimaldi Group, Cosco, Knutsen and NYK have passed through the strait. And two Iran-flagged, National Iranian Tanker Company-owned, sanctioned crude oil tankers have entered the strait, according to Lloyd’s List.
Pakistan has postponed a planned visit to Switzerland’s resort near Lucerne, where Islamabad was to host a ceremony for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran, two senior officials said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and top officials were expected to travel to Switzerland for the ceremony.
The officials said the visit was postponed because the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding had already been signed electronically, entered into force, and moved into the implementation phase.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
They said the next phase would proceed through separate technical-level tracks covering multiple issues under the comprehensive framework. Pakistan remains fully engaged in supporting the agreement’s implementation and ensuring sustained diplomatic follow-through, the officials added.
— Munir Ahmed
JD Vance was supposed to be spending the week promoting his new book, the kind of event a potential presidential candidate like the vice president typically uses to speak to a wide audience about his life and values ahead of a campaign.
Instead, the rollout of Vance’s second book, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” has been largely crowded out by something else he’s put his name on: the tentative deal to end the Iran war.
The Republican vice president has embraced the role of chief defender of the agreement he and President Trump signed with Tehran, giving a series of interviews touting the memorandum of understanding as a success and releasing a video championing it.
It’s a striking emergence for a politician who was known for his skepticism of foreign military interventions and who seemed reluctant to speak on the conflict when Trump launched it in late February.
For months, and sometimes longer, parents of kids with disabilities say they’ve waited for the Education Department to make progress on their complaints of bullying or other discrimination.
Now that the department is offloading civil rights enforcement and special education, some parents and advocates warn a process that’s largely been stalled since Trump took office will see only more chaos and roadblocks.
“It’s to the point I don’t even check in anymore with the attorney,” said Nicole May, an Ohio mother. May filed a complaint in spring 2024 with the department’s Office for Civil Rights, alleging her teenage daughter was bullied over her hearing aids and was getting in trouble in class because she couldn’t hear her teachers. More than two years later, the case lacks a resolution.
Under the changes announced Tuesday, the Department of Justice will take over civil rights enforcement in schools, and the Department of Health and Human Services will oversee special education. The moves help fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to dismantle the Education Department. Linda McMahon, the education secretary, pitched the changes as a way to get more help to families of kids with disabilities.
Prices fell below $4 a gallon on average Thursday, but just barely.
It’s the first time since March that the average cost for a regular gallon has been that low. Prices fell overnight after President Trump 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.
Gas prices are at $3.999 on average in the U.S., according to motor club AAA.
But fluctuations in gas prices remain across the country. In California, gas prices are averaging $5.64 per gallon, while in South Carolina it’s $3.58 per gallon.
Trump, soon after returning to Washington early Thursday morning from the G7, took to social media to push back against critics of the Iran deal.
“These fools, who think I haven’t been tough enough on Iran, when the Stock Market Just Hit A RECORD HIGH, and Oil prices are ‘tumbling’ down, are either jealous, bad people, or stupid,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Donald Trump explained the appeal in one sentence: “Versailles is not gold leaf — Versailles is the real deal.”
For Emmanuel Macron, that was precisely the point.
On Wednesday night, the French president threw open Louis XIV’s palace to his U.S. counterpart for a private reception, show and dinner marking America’s 250th birthday. At a turbulent moment for the trans-Atlantic alliance, it could help Macron keep a personal channel open as the two navigate differences over Iran, Ukraine and tariffs.
It already kept Trump from leaving a Group of Seven summit early, as he did last year in Canada.
“I’m a fan of beautiful places,” he told reporters, saying he had planned to leave earlier until “a very nice man” invited him to dinner.
After posing in front of Versailles’ golden doors, Trump enjoyed a private tour of the chateau’s glittering interior. And in a surprise move over a dinner of lobster, caviar and vanilla ice cream, he signed a memorandum on ending the war in Iran at a venue steeped in historical symbolism.
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.”
