US Won’t Unfreeze Iran’s Assets Before Peace Deal Is Reached, Trump Says

By Jacki Thrapp
Jacki Thrapp
Jacki Thrapp
Jacki Thrapp is an Emmy® Award-winning journalist based in Nashville. She previously worked at The New York Post, Fox News Channel and has written a series of Off-Broadway musicals in NYC. Contact her at jacki.thrapp@epochtimes.us
June 7, 2026Updated: June 7, 2026

The United States won’t unfreeze Iran’s assets until a long-term peace deal to end the conflict in the Middle East is reached, President Donald Trump said on June 7.

“If they behave, if ​they do a good job, we start talking,” Trump said during an interview on “Meet the Press.”

Approximately $24 billion in Iranian assets are frozen by the United States.

Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, told CNN on June 5 that any peace deal would hinge on the U.S. releasing the stalled assets. 

The Trump administration considered a plan to use some of Iran’s assets to help out neighboring countries that sustained damage during the three-month war, which started on Feb. 28.

A Treasury Department official confirmed to the Epoch Times on June 6 that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has already assigned a team to tally the total cost of damages inflicted by the Iranian regime.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Melanie Sun and Reuters contributed to this report.