Trump open to Iran sanctions relief for ‘concrete progress’ on nuclear issues, US official says
President Donald Trump disembarks Marine One before boarding Air Force One at Shannon Airport after attending the final day of the Irish Open on Sunday
(CNN) — President Donald Trump is willing to give Iran sanctions relief and release frozen funds as part of a final deal, but only if Tehran offers “concrete progress” on the nuclear issue, a US official told CNN Monday, as mediators try to bring both countries back to the negotiating table.
The United States is having “positive and constructive discussions through the mediators,” the official said, though they noted that there will not be a deal unless nuclear issues are addressed. Trump on Saturday rejected Iran’s latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, calling it “unacceptable.”
On Sunday, Trump told Axios that he expects more talks with Iran to occur this week. The official said that special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are leading the talks on the US side.
“They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make,” the president said. “It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago. They overplayed their hand.”
According to the official, Iran has indicated they are flexible on nuclear issues — but both sides have not reached an agreement on the timing of the commitments.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that Trump rejected the proposal because he did not believe Iran was negotiating in good faith, arguing that it was unacceptable that Tehran was “asking for everything up front.”
“The bottom line is they were asking for everything up front with a promise that they would then talk,” Waltz said on “State of the Union.”
Waltz later told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “it’s kind of common sense” Trump doesn’t have a lot of confidence in the Iranian proposal. He dismissed Tehran’s latest offer as “a pretty cynical attempt to put something on the table that they knew was unacceptable.”
The US official reiterated Waltz’s assertion that the United States is skeptical of Iran’s promises, given the country violated the US-Iran memorandum of understanding reached in July by firing on commercial vessels.
This story has been updated with additional context.
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