President Donald Trump dismissed as a “hoax” reports that he had offered Iran sanctions relief and access to its frozen funds in exchange for measures targeting Tehran’s nuclear program.
“Axios just released a story that ‘Trump’ offered Sanctions Relief and Frozen Funds to Iran. This is untrue. I offered them NOTHING,” Trump said on Sept. 28 in a Truth Social post. “They should withdraw this fake story, IMMEDIATELY!”
Axios reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials, that Trump was willing to ease sanctions and unfreeze Iranian funds if Tehran took “concrete steps” regarding its nuclear program, which it said came as Qatari and Pakistani mediators seek to broker a deal between the two nations.
The report also quoted an official as saying that Iran had “indicated they are flexible on the nuclear issues.”
The news outlet has updated the report to include Trump’s post.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also rejected claims that Tehran has shown flexibility on the nuclear issue, according to Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA on Sept. 28.
“It is not true at all, and I strongly reject it,” Araghchi was quoted as saying by IRNA. “Our stance on other matters is equally unambiguous. Currently, no flexibility exists whatsoever—indeed, the matter has not even been broached.”
Araghchi said current talks with mediators are solely focused on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for oil and gas shipments. He said the Strait’s reopening would depend on Washington meeting “specific conditions” set by Tehran.
Last week, Iran proposed a seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for resuming nuclear talks with Washington. Trump rejected the proposal.
The president told Axios in a phone interview on Sept. 27 that the proposal did not meet his expectations and said he expects talks with Iran to resume this week.
“They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make. It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago,” Trump said. “They overplayed their hand.”
Trump also told Fox News on Sept. 27 that he believes the United States is winning the ongoing war and that further military strikes on Iran before the U.S. midterm elections remain on the table.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said in a Sept. 27 interview on CNN that Trump rejected Iran’s proposal because it demanded the release of frozen assets and the lifting of sanctions targeting Tehran’s nuclear program before any nuclear agreement is reached.
“The bottom line is they were asking for everything up front with a promise that they would then talk,” Waltz said.
“The president’s just not confident that the Iranians are coming in good faith and that they will truly negotiate the end of their nuclear program.”
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