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President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to 'do what I have to do' if Iran fails to adhere to the interim agreement signed last week. The deal, signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, came after escalating military exchanges between the US, Israel, and Iran. Trump stated that Iran must use unfrozen funds exclusively to buy food from the US, while Iranian officials contest this condition.
Trump told reporters at the White House, 'If Iran doesn’t live up to their agreement, or if they’re not behaving, I will do what I have to do' Source: SCMP. The warning follows the interim US-Iran deal, which was reached more than three months after US and Israeli attacks on Iran and Iran's retaliatory strikes on Israel and Gulf states Source: La Republica.
Trump claimed that the unfrozen Iranian funds would be used to purchase food from the US, asserting that 'All that money’s coming back in the form of purchases of food which they desperately need' Source: Ground News. However, Iran's Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati stated that Tehran is 'under no obligation to buy agricultural inputs from the US under the current memorandum of understanding' Source: SCMP. Hemmati added that the funds could be used for other non-sanctioned goods, according to Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency Source: La Republica.
““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.”
““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 asserted.”
“Hemmati said the remaining frozen funds will not necessarily be used solely for essential goods and could be sent to buy other non-sanctioned goods.”
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