Iran Adviser Mohsen Rezaei Says U.S.-Iran Talks Deadlocked, Urges Trump To Unfreeze Assets

An adviser to Iran's supreme leader told CNN that U.S.-Iran negotiations are "at a deadlock" and that "the ball is in Trump's court," urging the U.S. to unfreeze billions in Iranian assets.

“While the United States and Iran have continued to exchange a series of proposals and counter-proposals for peace since a temporary ceasefire was announced in April, leaders on both sides have repeatedly signalled that they are also prepared to use force against the other if the need should arise”

Al Jazeera

Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said Iran wants the U.S. to unseal billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets, calling it "a sign of trust-building" and a "test that America must pass."

Al Jazeera

Rafael Grossi, the IAEA Director General, said Friday that negotiations between the United States and Iran appear close to producing a framework agreement on Tehran's nuclear program, while warning that "nuclear facilities should never be attacked."

Grossi said the IAEA remains in contact with both sides and stressed that Tehran's obligations under its agreements with the agency remain in force, even as he said "under war circumstances, this is not possible" to complete verification work.

The CBS News live updates also quoted President Trump saying Friday that "the situation with Iran seems to be going quite well," while the same report said U.S.-Iran talks were still described as deadlocked by Rezaei.

As fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah complicated prospects for ending the war, CNN reported that Hezbollah rejected a Lebanon-Israel ceasefire plan and that the leader of the Iran-backed militant group rejected the pact.

CNN also said President Donald Trump told reporters he would be open to meeting with Iran’s new supreme leader if there’s an agreement to end the war, while the same report noted that the House passed a resolution to limit Trump’s war powers in Iran.

Anadolu Ajansı

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty quoted Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam telling Tehran: "Have mercy on our south, stop treating it and its people as merely a bargaining chip," and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun saying, "It's not your country. It's our country."

The BBC said Trump reiterated that the ceasefire agreement with Iran "remains in place," while CENTCOM announced that Iranian forces launched missiles, drones, and attack boats during the crossing of American destroyers toward the Gulf of Oman.

In the same BBC account, the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters spokesperson accused the United States of breaking the ceasefire by targeting an oil tanker and a commercial vessel near Jask and the Fujairah port.

The Arms Control Association reported that Trump said the United States and Iran are close to reaching a peace agreement, while Iranian officials cautioned that a deal is not imminent, and it cited Trump’s May 23 Truth Social post saying an agreement had been largely negotiated.

“"I find hope in the work of long-established groups such as the Arms Control Association”

Arms Control Association

That same report said both Washington and Tehran stated the agreement would not address nuclear issues in detail and that more negotiations would be necessary, with Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei telling Iranian state media May 25 that "no one can claim that the signing of an agreement is imminent."

The Al Jazeera-style framing of the nuclear track in the IAEA reporting came with Grossi’s emphasis that Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium remains central to any future agreement, and he said possible options include exporting the material, diluting it or keeping it in Iran under IAEA monitoring.

CNN reported that the fate of the peace talks remained unclear after Iranian officials publicly denied provisions Trump said Iran had agreed to, and it said the fragile ceasefire faced a new test when a U.S. guided-missile destroyer fired on an Iranian-flagged cargo ship and seized it.

In the BBC account, Trump warned that a failure to reach the agreement would mean "returning to bombing with greater force," underscoring that the military option remained on the U.S. table even as communications between the United States and Iran intensified.