'If they're right, I'll cancel the meeting right now,' Trump says

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US President Donald Trump speaks at the Mack Trucks Lehigh Valley Operations facility in Macungie, Pennsylvania, on June 23 (local time). [AFP]
US President Donald Trump speaks at the Mack Trucks Lehigh Valley Operations facility in Macungie, Pennsylvania, on June 23 (local time). [AFP]

US President Donald Trump said International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors will be deployed to Iran's nuclear facilities as planned, dismissing Tehran's denial that it had agreed to any such inspections and reaffirming that the resumption of nuclear monitoring is a done deal.

Speaking to reporters June 23 (local time) at Reading Airport in Pennsylvania, where he had arrived for a scheduled event, Trump was asked when IAEA inspectors would visit Iran. "They will be put in at the appropriate time," he said.

Asked about Iran's denial that any IAEA inspection had been agreed upon, Trump pushed back sharply. "They're wrong," he said. "If they're right, I'll cancel the meeting right now."

The remarks came as the United States and Iran pursue follow-up working-level negotiations after holding their first high-level talks in Switzerland last weekend, following the signing of a ceasefire memorandum of understanding. The comments were widely interpreted as a warning that Iran's refusal to accept IAEA inspections could jeopardize the negotiations altogether.

Vice President JD Vance said at a news conference Monday that Iran had agreed to reinvite IAEA inspectors into the country and that the inspectors were scheduled to begin their work this week.

Iran, however, has taken a position at odds with Washington, saying it has not accepted any new nuclear obligations.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Tuesday that reports claiming Iran had agreed to IAEA inspections of nuclear facilities previously struck in US airstrikes were untrue. "Whether inspections resume will be determined by the future course of the negotiations and their outcome," he said.


mokiya@heraldcorp.com