U.S. President Donald Trump refused to give final approval to a ceasefire memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran, saying he "will not rush an agreement." He instead sent back tougher conditions on Iran's nuclear program and sanctions relief, according to sources. Washington and Tehran appear locked in a fierce last-minute tug-of-war over ending the war.
In an interview Sunday with Lara Trump, the Fox News host and wife of his second son Eric Trump, Trump said the U.S. is "close to a very good deal with Iran" but added, "I'm not in a rush. If you rush, you can't make a good deal."
"Originally Iran said, 'We will not develop nuclear weapons,'" Trump said. "I asked, 'Then what about purchasing nuclear weapons?' and Iran inserted the language, 'We will not develop nuclear weapons or purchase military weapons in any way.' That's a big difference." The remarks suggest the Trump administration is pressing Iran to include both a ban on developing nuclear weapons and a ban on purchasing nuclear-related weapons in the agreement. Trump again pressured Iran by warning, "If we cannot reach a good agreement, we will activate the department we call the 'Department of War.'"
The New York Times, citing three officials, reported that Trump did not approve the MOU containing Iran's conditions and instead sent Tehran a revised draft with "tightened conditions." Trump reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with the tentative agreement, which included Iran's demands on the nuclear issue as well as the release of its frozen funds.
The gap between Washington and Tehran remains wide. CNBC reported that Trump is demanding that Iran refrain from possessing nuclear weapons and keep the Strait of Hormuz open without tolls. Iran's state-run Fars news agency, by contrast, claimed that the dismantling or destruction of nuclear materials is not included in the agreement and that the core of the deal is the immediate disbursement of $12 billion in frozen assets. One side calls "abandoning nuclear weapons" the heart of the deal, while the other calls "the release of funds" the heart of it.
Iran is staking everything on the release of its frozen assets because its financial channels have been blocked, leaving it in severe fiscal distress. To circumvent U.S. economic sanctions, Iran has received payments for oil sales in cryptocurrency, which faces tough regulation. But Washington has frozen those funds, choking off liquidity.
U.S. financial pressure is intensifying. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the United States had seized $1 billion worth of Iranian-owned cryptocurrency. The Treasury said in late April it had frozen Iranian crypto assets worth nearly $500 million, meaning the amount has doubled in just over a month. "We took entire crypto wallets," Bessent said. "Some of them probably haven't even realized yet that we snatched their wallets." The Treasury also imposed sanctions on an Iran-based network that procured prohibited goods for Iran's defense and munitions ministries. Some of the Iranian firms identified were found to have impersonated U.S. companies to procure network security and encryption software and hardware from other companies in the United States.
Military pressure is being applied in parallel. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. naval blockade of Iran remains firmly in place and that the military is ready to resume intervention if ceasefire talks break down. Actual military strikes are also continuing. U.S. Central Command said it had fired missiles at a Gambian-flagged cargo ship that was attempting to sail toward an Iranian port. In a statement, Central Command said the vessel "was observed transiting international waters in the Gulf of Oman toward an Iranian port."
Meanwhile, Israel, which is tightening its offensive against Hezbollah, expanded its ground operations and captured Beaufort, a strategic stronghold in Lebanon. The expansion of Israel's ground campaign is likely to be a variable in the ceasefire negotiations.
