President Donald Trump told NBC News in a recent interview that frozen Iranian assets will remain locked and sanctions will stay in place until a peace agreement is fully completed.
During the “Meet the Press” interview, Trump made clear that any relief for Iran would only happen following a finalized deal. “Comes after,” the president stated. “Yeah. If they behave, if they do a good job, we start talking. Yeah.”
The president also indicated that Lebanon’s inclusion in any short-term agreement with Tehran is not a requirement from his administration.
“I think they’d like to see it, but I’m not demanding,” Trump explained during the Friday interview taping.
Military operations involving U.S. and Israeli forces against Iran commenced on February 28, with the Trump administration working for weeks to broker a potential peace agreement. “We’re very close to a deal, or I’m going to blow the hell out of them,” Trump declared to NBC News.
Trump expressed willingness to engage directly with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has remained out of public view since sustaining injuries during U.S. military strikes when the conflict began.
“I don’t want to say whether or not I know where he is, but there’s a good probability that I do,” the president revealed.
Senior administration officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, maintain that a temporary ceasefire arrangement remains intact despite ongoing U.S. military actions against Iran, explaining to Congress last week that such strikes are defensive in nature.
