Trump Fumes Over Report He’s Considering Giving Iran $20 Billion

Donald Trump doesn’t want anyone to think that he’s giving Iran money. The president posted on his Truth Social account Friday about a plan to end the war between the U.S. and Iran, and stressed that “No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form.” That’s despite a report from Axios that the U.S. is considering releasing $20 billion in frozen Iranian assets in exchange for the country’s stockpile of enriched uranium. The report states that the two countries are discussing a three-page plan, and would probably send negotiators to Pakistan this weekend to try and finalize it. Iran reportedly has close to 2,000 kg of enriched uranium buried in underground nuclear facilities. The talks concern what specifically will happen to the uranium, and how much of Iranian assets will be unfrozen. In earlier discussions, the U.S. was willing to release $6 billion to Iran for humanitarian relief, while the Iranians wanted $27 billion, according to Axios. The White House also wanted Iran to send its uranium to the U.S., while Iran sought to instead lower its enrichment through a process called downblending. Now, the two sides are considering a compromise in which some uranium would be sent to a third country while the rest would be downblended with international supervision.If the U.S. does agree to release Iranian assets, Trump would be in effect doing what he and other Republicans criticized President Obama for: unfreezing Iranian money as part of an international agreement. As part of the nuclear deal Obama reached with Iran during his presidency, the U.S. lifted sanctions that froze Iranian government funds held in foreign banks and sent $1.7 billion to settle decades-old failed contracts between the two countries. Back then, Trump and other Republicans made unfounded and fantastical claims that the U.S. was bribing Iran because the country was releasing American prisoners at the same time. If Iranian assets end up being unfrozen now, Trump and the GOP will make all kinds of excuses about how it’s different this time.