U.S. President Signals Readiness to Act as Dispute Emerges Over Conditions Tied to Unfrozen Iranian Funds
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday that he would take whatever actions are necessary if Iran fails to comply with its agreement with Washington.
“If Iran doesn't live up to their agreement, or if they're not behaving, I will do what I have to do,” Trump told reporters.
Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed an interim U.S.–Iran agreement last week, more than three months after the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran, and Tehran responded with strikes against Israel and Gulf states hosting U.S. military bases.
Speaking on Monday, Trump said Iran was expected to use the funds being unfrozen to purchase food exclusively from the United States. However, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Iranian Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati as saying that Tehran is under no obligation to buy agricultural products from the United States under the current memorandum of understanding.
“All that money's coming back in the form of purchases of food which they desperately need. They have 91 million people, they can't feed them. So, the money that we lift is going to go to our farmers,” Trump said.
According to Tasnim, Hemmati stated that the remaining frozen funds would not necessarily be limited to essential goods and could also be used to purchase other non-sanctioned products.
