Peace deal with Iran

Trump holds firm: no sanctions relief or unfrozen assets for Iran until a deal is done

President Donald Trump told NBC News' "Meet the Press" that the United States will not unfreeze Iranian assets or lift sanctions until a peace deal with Tehran is fully completed, rejecting Iran's demand that $24 billion in frozen funds be released as a precondition for any agreement.

The position draws a hard line at a moment when U.S. and Iranian forces are still exchanging fire, Gulf allies are absorbing missile strikes on residential areas, and Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz continues to choke roughly a fifth of global oil traffic.

Asked whether sanctions relief or asset releases would come before or after a deal, Trump was blunt. "Comes after," he said in the interview. Pressed on whether Iran could earn goodwill concessions ahead of a formal agreement, Trump replied:

"Yeah. If they behave, if they do a good job, we start talking. Yeah."

That framing puts the burden squarely on Tehran, and it stands in sharp contrast to the Iranian position laid out just days earlier by Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader. Rezaei told CNN that a peace deal to end the three-month-old conflict hinged on the release of $24 billion in Iranian assets frozen by the United States.

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So, it looks like Iran can play games forever.