Washington: US President Donald Trump on Monday said he would take action if Iran failed to stick to its agreement with Washington, declaring, “If Iran doesn’t live up to their agreement, or if they’re not behaving, I will do what I have to do,” Reuters reported.
He also said the money being unfrozen would be used to buy food from the United States, while Iranian officials rejected that interpretation.
Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed an interim US-Iran deal last week, more than three months after the US and Israel attacked Iran and Iran responded with strikes on Israel and Gulf states with US bases.
The agreement has already led to a dispute over how the released funds can be used and what obligations Tehran has under the memorandum.
“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 said.
However, Iranian central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati told semi-official Tasnim news agency that Tehran is not obliged to buy agricultural inputs from the US under the current memorandum of understanding, and that the remaining frozen funds could be used for other non-sanctioned goods.
The row comes against the backdrop of a war that has killed thousands and displaced millions, while also unsettling global markets and lifting oil prices.
