From the Liveblog of
Monday, June 15, 2026
Top US officials: Sanctions relief not tied to regime’s treatment of Iranians; there are no ‘side deals’ on frozen funds
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
Asked whether sanctions relief will also be tied to Iran’s treatment of its people, a senior US official briefing reporters responds: “Sanctions relief is not tied specifically to any particular conduct; it’s tied generally to [Iran] behaving more appropriately.”
The senior US official says the US cares about how Iran treats its people, but that Iran’s nuclear program and support for proxies are bigger priorities. “We care about the domestic situation too, but I would say that’s the third priority over the first two.”
“We are prepared to release sanctions, and we’ll do some small gestures of that in the beginning, if they make some small gestures to us that show that they’re willing to meet their commitments as well,” a second senior US official on the briefing says.
The senior officials stress that there won’t be any “side deals” made with Iran that will grant it access to frozen funds.
“We discussed the possibility of releasing frozen funds, sanctions relief and a big $300 billion fund to rebuild their country,” the US official says. “All of these things are going to be tied to performance.”
One of the officials insists that Gulf states such as the UAE and Qatar will not ink such side deals with Iran — despite reports to the contrary — because they too want the deal to succeed.
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