WRAPUP 5-US, Iran spar over nuclear checks as stranded ships poised to leave Gulf

The UN has begun evacuating hundreds of ships from the Gulf, with 11,000 seafarers stuck aboard, following a fragile peace deal between the US and Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Iran had agreed to nuclear inspections into "infinity", despite Tehran's denials, as the U.N. began efforts to evacuate hundreds of ships from the Gulf in a tentative return to calm after a fragile peace deal. The U.N. shipping agency said an evacuation plan to enable some 11,000 seafarers stuck aboard vessels in the Gulf to sail through the Strait of ‌Hormuz, which Iran effectively blocked during the war, was underway after the ceasefire deal between Washington and Tehran. "We have now started contacting the ships to start the evacuation," a spokesperson for the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization (IMO) said, without providing a timeframe, adding that the agency had secured "the necessary safety guarantees" and verified conditions for safe navigation. IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said the "large-scale operation" would unfold in close cooperation with Iran, Oman, other coastal states, the U.S. and the maritime industry. In another sign of de-escalation, Washington agreed to waive sanctions on Iran for 60 days from Monday after the first round of talks under the ‌nascent peace deal agreed last week on ending more than three months of war. Trump also said unfrozen Iranian assets would be used to buy humanitarian supplies from the U.S. U.S. Vice President JD Vance said the talks with Iranian officials in the Swiss mountain resort ‌of Buergenstock laid a good foundation for a final accord and that Tehran had agreed to allow nuclear inspectors back into the country.

Iran denied it had discussed its nuclear program at the talks, mediated by Qatar and Pakistan, and said it had not agreed to invite International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back. IRAN SAYS IT WILL DECIDE ALONE ON ASSETS' USE

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Tuesday Iranian officials had not held a meeting with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi in Switzerland and had no plans for the U.N. nuclear watchdog to inspect Iran's damaged nuclear facilities. Trump hit back on Tuesday at what he said were Iran's "protestations and false statements".

"Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long ⁠into the future (Infinity!!!)," ​Trump said in a post on Truth Social. He also said any Iranian assets ⁠unfrozen under the deal would be placed in an escrow account and used to buy food and medical supplies from the U.S. "including Corn, Wheat, and Soybeans from our great American Farmers".

Iran's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, had earlier on Tuesday denied there had been any such agreement. ROADMAP FOR TALKS The conflicting statements highlighted the uncertainty facing efforts ⁠to halt a war that has upended the Middle East.

On Monday, the sides agreed on a mechanism to end fighting between U.S. ally Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, and opened a communications line to help ensure safe passage for commercial ships through Hormuz, an energy chokepoint. In the first of several steps to ​provide economic relief to Iran, the U.S. Treasury announced a waiver until August 21 on sanctions, allowing Tehran to sell oil and related products and receive payment for them. Bahreini said "good progress" had been made in the talks and that two working groups would be ⁠established in coming days to focus on the removal of sanctions and Iran's nuclear activities.

CONFLICT IN LEBANON The ambassador said Lebanon was an "unquestionable" part of the interim accord between the U.S. and Iran, and that it included the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon. A ceasefire has largely held in southern Lebanon since Sunday, but Lebanon's Civil Defence and state media said Israeli ⁠gunfire had ​killed two people there on Tuesday. Hezbollah said the incident violated the ceasefire. Israel has said it will maintain a security zone in southern Lebanon and continue to act to "neutralise" threats against Israeli soldiers and citizens. Israeli strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon have killed thousands of people and displaced millions.

Israel and Lebanon began fresh talks in Washington on Tuesday, with Beirut determined to press ahead even as the direct negotiations appear to be overshadowed by Iran's decision to make Lebanon part of its talks with the U.S. While tanker traffic through Hormuz started to pick up on Monday, Iran ⁠and Oman suggested there may be costs involved in using the strait, whose closure pushed up global inflation. POLITICAL LIABILITY FOR TRUMP Iran's Fars news agency quoted a military source as saying only a limited number of vessels are currently permitted to transit Hormuz in coordination with Iranian ⁠forces, adding the number allowed through will vary daily, depending on conditions.

The Iran ⁠war, which began with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes, is now a political liability at home for Trump and his fellow Republicans in Congress as midterm elections loom in November. Opinion polls have shown public frustration over a rise in gas prices since the war began, and Trump faces pressures from Republicans who want Iran's nuclear program shut down. Iran has limited IAEA inspections since the U.S. and Israel launched their first airstrikes last year, ‌and suspended them when war broke out. Iran says ‌its nuclear program is peaceful.