Iran Warns US of Wider War, Demands $24 Billion in Frozen Assets

A potential peace deal between the United States and Iran hinges on the Trump administration agreeing to release $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets, a top Iranian official told CNN on Friday, June 5. Mohsen Rezaei, military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said the US would enter into a “dark corridor” should it resume fighting.

Rezaei said the negotiations are at a deadlock and that US President Donald Trump must break it. “The ball is in Trump’s court,” he told CNN in an exclusive interview in Tehran. Iran has reportedly demanded the release of $12 billion in frozen funds as soon as an interim agreement is signed, and another $12 billion at a later stage.

US officials are concerned that unfreezing funds at this stage could remove a key leverage point over the regime. Trump has demanded that any agreement appear far stronger than the nuclear deal struck in 2015, and avoid anything that could be construed as handing over “pallets of cash,” a phrase he used to criticize then-President Barack Obama’s decision to give Tehran financial compensation.

Rezaei framed the demand for releasing frozen assets as a trust-building measure, calling the release a “new horizon for the future of Iran and America.” He said, “This is our own money, not America’s money.” He also warned that Iran will drag the war beyond the Persian Gulf if the US resumes the conflict.

In the interview, Rezaei shed light on Iran’s strategic thinking about its postwar vision, the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, and how Iran may act if attacked again.