US to only unfreeze Iranian assets after peace deal

U.S. President Donald Trump said that the U.S. will unfreeze Iranian assets only after the two sides reach a peace deal. 

“No,” the president said on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” in an interview that aired Sunday, when host Kristen Welker asked if he would unfreeze any Iranian assets or lift any sanctions as part of an agreement.

“If they behave, if they do a good job, we start talking” about unfreezing assets and lifting sanctions, Trump added.

Iranian officials estimate that more than $100 billion in assets are inaccessible due to sanctions, banking restrictions and legal disputes, according to Iran International.

Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, told CNN on Friday that negotiations have hit an impasse over the Trump administration so far refusing to release $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets. 

“The negotiations are at a deadlock, and Trump must break this deadlock. The ball is in Trump’s court," Rezaei said.

But the Treasury Department reportedly plans to use those frozen Iranian assets to help American allies in the Gulf recover from damage inflicted by Tehran during the war. CBS News reported Saturday that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has directed his department to seek estimates from Gulf allies of how much repairs would cost. 

Trump told Welker Friday that his administration and Iranian officials are “very close” to reaching a deal. The president added that while the Iranian government has “conceded the fact” that they will not develop nuclear weapons, he wants a broader concession. 

“We had a clause in there that we will not develop nuclear weapons. And everybody was very happy with it except me. And I said, ‘Well, what happens if they, not develop, but they go out and purchase, they acquire?'” Trump said.

“I want to put the word, if they buy or purchase or acquire … You’ve got to have that in there too because that’s not developing,” he continued. “So, they don’t have the right to develop or purchase, acquire or buy.”

But the president warned that if the two sides do not hash out a deal in the near future, the U.S. will again take military action. 

“I think that we’ll either have something done fairly quickly, or we’ll finish it out militarily,” Trump said.