A potential peace deal between the US and Iran depends on the Trump administration agreeing to unfreeze $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets, a senior Iranian official told CNN on Friday.
He warned that the US would “fall into a dark corridor“ if it resumes military action.
“The talks have reached a dead end and US President Donald must break them off. The ball is in Trump's court," Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, told CNN in an exclusive interview in Tehran.
Iran is reportedly demanding the unfreezing of $12 billion in frozen assets immediately after signing an interim agreement with the United States and another $12 billion at a later stage.
The outlet reported that US officials are concerned that unfreezing the funds at this stage could deprive them of a key lever of influence over the regime.
Trump has demanded that any agreement be significantly tougher than the 2015 nuclear deal and to avoid anything that could be seen as transferring "pallets of money" – a term he used to criticize then-President Barack Obama's decision to provide financial compensation to Tehran.
In a rare interview with CNN, Rezaei shed light on the views of Iranian strategists on the country's post-war future, the fate of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's possible actions in the event of another attack.
The article notes that his comments carry weight because he remains closely linked to Iranian security forces and is considered close to the current supreme leader, who has not been seen in public since he was wounded in an Israeli attack that killed his father on the first day of the war.
Rezaei noted that the possible release of funds by the Trump administration would be “a new horizon for the future”.
“If he wants to reach a deal with Iran, this $24 billion is a test of the trust Iran wants to have in Trump – "This is a test that America must pass, and the path will be clear. This is our own money, not America's money," he said.
He warned that Iran would "expand the war zone" beyond the Persian Gulf if the US resumed the conflict, potentially escalating military operations from the Strait of Hormuz to the Indian Ocean, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.
"We will give the war another dimension by attacking the other American bases that we have attacked so far," he said. Rezaei warned.
At the same time, he said that “the probability of war is low“.
The publication noted that Rezaei did not answer a question about Khamenei's health and his role in the country's decision-making process, but dismissed the prospect of him meeting Trump:
“That's not going to happen. We're in the first stage of negotiations right now, and Mr. Trump has brought the negotiations to a standstill. That's not going to happen.“
Trump said this week that he and Khamenei “seem to get along well“ and that it would be “an honor“ to meet with him.
Rezaei noted that Iran and Oman have sovereignty over the key waterway – The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passed before the war, will therefore be jointly managed.
A member of the old guard of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Rezaei fought in the Iran-Iraq War and later led the armed forces from 1981 to 1997, helping to transform them into one of the most powerful institutions in the Islamic Republic.
“A hardliner deeply embedded in Iran's security apparatus, he later joined the Expediency Council, which advises the supreme leader, and was vice president to the former president.“ “Ebrahim Raisi“, the publication states.
Rezaei has run for president four times but has never won.