Trump open to Iran sanctions relief for ‘concrete progress’ on nuclear issues, White House official says

President Donald Trump is willing to give Iran sanctions relief and release frozen funds for “concrete progress” on a nuclear deal, a US official told CNN Monday, as mediators try to bring both countries back to the negotiating table.

The United States is having “positive and constructive discussions through the mediators,” the official said, though they noted that there will not be a deal unless nuclear issues are addressed. Trump on Saturday rejected Iran’s latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, calling it “unacceptable.”

On Sunday, Trump told Axios that he expects more talks with Iran to occur this week. The official said that special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are leading the talks on the US side.

“They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make,” the president said. “It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago. They overplayed their hand.”

According to the official, Iran has indicated they are flexible on nuclear issues — but both sides have not reached an agreement on the timing of the commitments.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that Trump rejected the proposal because he did not believe Iran was negotiating in good faith, arguing that it was unacceptable that Tehran was “asking for everything up front.”

“The bottom line is they were asking for everything up front with a promise that they would then talk,” Waltz said on “State of the Union.”

Waltz later told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “it’s kind of common sense” Trump doesn’t have a lot of confidence in the Iranian proposal. He dismissed Tehran’s latest offer as “a pretty cynical attempt to put something on the table that they knew was unacceptable.”

The White House official reiterated Waltz’s assertion that the United States is skeptical of Iran’s promises, given the country violated the US-Iran memorandum of understanding reached in July by firing on commercial vessels.

一位美国官员周一告诉 CNN，唐纳德·特朗普总统愿意在伊朗核协议取得“具体进展”后解除对伊朗的制裁并解冻资金，与此同时，调解员正努力促使两国重返谈判桌。

这位官员表示，美国正通过调解人进行“积极且建设性的对话”，但他们也指出，除非核问题得到解决，否则不会达成协议。特朗普周六拒绝了伊朗重新开放霍尔木兹海峡的最新提议，称其“不可接受”。

周日，特朗普告诉Axios新闻网，他预计本周将与伊朗举行更多会谈。一位官员表示，美方谈判由特使史蒂夫·威特科夫、贾里德·库什纳、副总统JD·万斯和国务卿马可·卢比奥领导。

总统说：“他们想达成协议，但这不是我想要的协议。这或许是我们一年前会同意的协议。他们这次玩火自焚了。”

据这位官员称，伊朗已表示在核问题上态度灵活——但双方尚未就承诺的时间达成一致。

美国驻联合国大使迈克·沃尔兹周日告诉 CNN 的杰克·塔珀，特朗普拒绝了这一提议，因为他不相信伊朗是在真诚地进行谈判，并认为德黑兰“要求一开始就满足所有条件”是不可接受的。

“关键是，他们要求先提供所有信息，然后承诺之后会进行谈判，”沃尔兹在“国情咨文”节目中说道。

沃尔兹后来在接受NBC“会见媒体”节目采访时表示，特朗普对伊朗的提议缺乏信心，“这几乎是常识”。他驳斥了德黑兰的最新提议，称其为“一种相当愤世嫉俗的尝试，他们明知对方无法接受，却还是提出了这样的方案”。

白宫官员重申了沃尔兹的说法，即鉴于伊朗违反了7月份达成的美伊谅解备忘录，向商船开火，美国对伊朗的承诺持怀疑态度。