Iran received '$0' after deal: US officials

Washington, June 15 (IANS) Senior US officials on Monday said Iran has not received any access to frozen assets or sanctions relief following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran, pushing back against reports that the breakthrough agreement included an immediate financial windfall for the Islamic Republic.

"The answer to that is... Zero," a senior US official said when asked whether any frozen Iranian assets had been released under the agreement. "$0 of unfrozen assets have been released by the United States, or any other country."

The clarification came as the Trump administration sought to explain the framework agreement signed earlier Monday, which establishes a roadmap for future negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme, sanctions relief and broader regional issues.

According to senior US officials, the memorandum of understanding does not provide immediate economic benefits to Tehran. Instead, any future access to frozen assets, sanctions relief or international investment will depend on verifiable actions by Iran.

"We really do want to get to a place where we can unsanction a lot of the Iranian economy, where we can unfreeze these assets, but it requires the Iranians to do some of the things that they're promising to do," a senior official said.

Administration officials said the agreement is built around a performance-based approach that links economic incentives to progress on nuclear verification and regional security commitments.

"We are prepared to release frozen funds, and we are prepared to relieve sanctions," a senior US official said. However, the official added that any such measures would be implemented in phases and tied to "verifiable milestones."

Officials stressed that the administration would not provide economic concessions merely in exchange for Iran's participation in talks.

"The whole term we keep using is, we don't pay for play," a senior official said while discussing the framework of the negotiations. The official said future access to funds or broader economic opportunities would depend on Iran demonstrating that it is not pursuing a nuclear weapon and is not using resources to support terrorism or regional instability.

The administration also pledged full transparency regarding the agreement and rejected suggestions that undisclosed arrangements existed alongside the publicly announced framework.

"The MOU will be released publicly," a senior official said. "One of our principles here is, we want to have full transparency on this, and there'll be no side deals."

Officials strongly refuted reports suggesting that billions of dollars had already been made available to Tehran.

"It is interesting, just reporting on this, and I really don't know where it's coming from, but we suspect that there are some elements within the Iranian hardline system who are trying to signal to their allies, or maybe their domestic audience," a senior US official said.

The officials argued that the agreement gives Iran two potential paths. One would leave existing economic restrictions in place, limiting Tehran's ability to rebuild its economy. The other would gradually reintegrate Iran into the global economy if it accepts verification mechanisms designed to ensure that it does not rebuild its nuclear programme.

The memorandum of understanding announced Monday is the first formal framework reached between the two sides in the latest round of negotiations. US officials said technical discussions on nuclear verification, sanctions relief and implementation measures will continue in the coming weeks before any final agreement is considered.

--IANS

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