Mohsen Rezaei says potential US-Iran deal hinges on releasing frozen assets Threatens to widen war as talks with US hit impasse US military disputes claim that Iranian navy fired warning shots at its warships.

Tehran/-Washington - A potential agreement between Washington and Tehran hinges on US President Donald Trump’s administration agreeing to release $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets, CNN quoted Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, as saying.

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“The negotiations are at a deadlock and (US President Donald) Trump must break this deadlock,” Mohsen Rezaei, military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, told CNN in an exclusive interview in Tehran on Friday. “The ball is in Trump’s court.”

“If [Trump] wants to reach an agreement with Iran, this $24 billion is a test of trust that Iran wants to have with Trump – this is a test that America must pass and the path will be opened,” he says. “This is our own money, not America’s money.”

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Iran has reportedly demanded the release of $12 billion in frozen funds as soon as an interim agreement is signed with the US, and another $12 billion at a later stage. US officials are concerned that any unfreezing of funds at this stage could remove a key leverage point over the regime.

In the rare interview with CNN, Rezaei shed light on the thinking inside Iran’s strategic decision-making circles about the country’s postwar vision, the fate of the Strait of Hormuz and how Iran may act if it is attacked again.

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He framed the demand as a trust-building measure, saying the Trump administration’s potential release of the funds would be “a new horizon for the future” of Iran and America: “If he (Trump) wants to reach an agreement with Iran, this $24 billion is a test of trust that Iran wants to have with Trump – this is a test that America must pass and the path will be opened.”

Rezaei warned that Iran will “drag the war” beyond the Persian Gulf if the United States resumes the conflict, potentially expanding military operations from the Strait of Hormuz to the Indian Ocean, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. “We will give another dimension to the war by attacking these other American bases that we have been attacking so far.”

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He did not answer a question about Khamenei’s health and role in the country’s decision-making, but rejected prospects of him meeting Trump. “This will not happen, right now we are in the first stage of negotiations and Mr. Trump has brought the negotiations to a standstill. This will not happen.

The US military denied a claim by the Iranian navy that it had fired warning shots near two US destroyers in the Gulf of Oman.

“Iranian forces did NOT attack or fire at U.S. Navy warships,” US Central Command said Friday in a post on X.

“Doing so would be a gross violation of the ceasefire. U.S. forces continue to operate freely in regional waters while fully enforcing the ongoing blockade against Iran,” CENTCOM added.

Iran’s navy had said earlier Friday that it had carried out warning launches of missiles and a new attack drone against the two US vessels, after which they “left the Gulf of Oman and headed toward the Indian Ocean.”

It did not say when the alleged incidents occurred.

It added that “although enemy vessels have moved farther away and beyond the range of the missiles used, longer-range missiles would be employed if necessary.”

The US navy has a substantial presence in the Gulf of Oman as part of an operation to prevent shipping from using Iranian ports.