According to reports, U.S. President Donald Trump said on June 22, “If Iran doesn’t live up to their agreement, or if they misbehave, I will do what I have to do.” This came after he signed a memorandum of understanding with Iranian President Pezeshkian early on June 18 in Tehran.
The memorandum clearly outlines U.S. obligations regarding the unfreezing of Iranian assets. Trump argued that Iran should use these unfrozen funds specifically to purchase food from the United States.
Trump firmly stated, “All this money will come back in the form of buying food they desperately need. They have 91 million people and can’t feed them. So, the funds we raise will go to our farmers.”
However, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Hemmati, stated that under the current memorandum, Iran is not obligated to buy agricultural goods from the U.S. He added that the remaining frozen funds don’t necessarily have to be used only for essential items—they could also be used to purchase other non-sanctioned goods.
