Iran has offered to restore nuclear inspectors’ access to bombed facilities in exchange for sanctions relief, according to people familiar with private discussions, a potential concession that could help break the deadlock in peace talks with the United States.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi raised the proposal during meetings with European and Middle Eastern diplomats while he was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, which ended earlier this week. The diplomats, who asked not to be identified because they were discussing private deliberations, said the proposal had not previously been known to have been raised during Araghchi’s visit.
The offer comes as Iran faces mounting economic pressure from sanctions and a US naval blockade outside the Strait of Hormuz that has sharply restricted its oil exports. Inflation in Iran is now almost 90% year on year, while the rial has weakened 30% against the dollar as sanctions begin to take effect. Diplomats familiar with the discussions said Araghchi’s willingness to link access for nuclear inspectors to sanctions relief indicated the extent of the economic pressure facing Tehran.
Araghchi also pressed European governments to reverse a United Nations decision from last year to reimpose broad sanctions on Iran. Four people familiar with the discussions said the sanctions “snapback”, set in motion last September, remained a particular grievance for Tehran. European officials have refused to reverse the measure.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had already publicly said that Tehran was willing to allow inspectors to return. In an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” last week, he was asked whether Iran was prepared to restore access and replied: “That is absolutely correct.” What was not previously known was that Araghchi had raised the proposal privately during his several-day stay in New York.
US President Donald Trump this week denied reports that he was prepared to offer sanctions relief and release frozen Iranian funds in exchange for concessions on Iran’s nuclear programme. Subsequent US-Iran peace talks have failed to produce an agreement, while officials in Tehran have come to believe that no deal is possible before the November midterm elections. The two sides made little progress during talks in New York.
The United States previously claimed that Iran had agreed to allow nuclear inspectors to return under a June memorandum of understanding that later collapsed. Iranian officials rejected that claim at the time, saying the text contained no such provision. The memorandum was criticised by Democrats and some Republicans as giving Iran excessive financial concessions, particularly through sanctions relief.
Washington has told mediators that it wants firm Iranian commitments on reopening the Strait of Hormuz as well as concessions on the nuclear programme. Tehran said it had offered to reopen the strait within seven days if the United States made certain concessions, but Trump said he rejected the proposal. Iranian leaders have previously said Washington must lift its naval blockade and remove sanctions before they allow more ships through the waterway.
The US has largely stopped military attacks on Iranian assets and is relying instead on the naval blockade. Preliminary data based on satellite imagery showed that Iran loaded no crude oil onto tankers last month, indicating that Tehran may be becoming less willing or able to test the US blockade of its Persian Gulf ports. The people familiar with the situation cautioned, however, that Iran has a high tolerance for economic distress.
