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U.S. President Donald Trump said he will not unfreeze Iranian assets or lift sanctions before a peace deal is finalized and outlined his plan to retrieve and destroy Iran's highly enriched uranium with or without Tehran's cooperation.
The U.S. president also revealed that he considers Iran's new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, "more rational" than his father and that he likely knows where the severely injured leader is hiding in his detailed public remarks, recorded for NBC News' "Meet the Press."
Trump flatly rejected Iran's central demand that frozen assets be released before or alongside a preliminary agreement. "Comes after," he said.
"Yeah. If they behave, if they do a good job, we start talking," Trump added.
On nuclear language, Trump said he went further than what negotiators initially agreed to.
"They've conceded the fact that they will not have nuclear weapons. We had a clause in there that they will not develop nuclear weapons. And everybody was very happy with it except me," he said.
Trump demanded an additional provision.
"I said, 'Well, what happens if they, not develop, but they go out and purchase, they acquire? I want to put the word, if they buy, purchase, or acquire.' You know, you've got to have that in there, too, because that's not developing. So, they don't have the right to develop or purchase, acquire or buy."
He said the Iranians pushed back "a little bit" and then accepted.
Trump also said he was not demanding that Lebanon be part of a short-term deal with Tehran.
Trump described two scenarios for handling Iran's enriched uranium stockpile. If a deal is reached, he said the U.S. and Iran would remove and destroy the material together.
"If we make a deal that now we're friendly, we'll all go together. It'll be our equipment. We'll take it out and destroy it, whether it's on-site or whether we take it off-site," he said.
If no deal is reached, Trump said the U.S. would first militarily degrade Iran to the point where American forces can safely collect the material.
"If we don't make a deal, then we're going to take them out militarily very harshly. And we'll wait till we do that before we go, in which case we'll have safety either way," Trump said.
He added that Space Force satellites already provide continuous surveillance of Iranian nuclear sites, saying, "If you walked over there, I would be able to read your first name on your lapel," he told moderator Kristen Welker.
Trump offered an assessment of Iran's new Supreme Leader, who has not been seen in public since the war began. "Younger. I think more rational," Trump said of Mojtaba Khamenei.
"Injured. He's pretty badly injured. So there's a certain bravery there," he added.
Trump said Mojtaba Khamenei is "part of" the approval process for any deal and that he is open to speaking with him directly. "I would if he'd like to," Trump said, "but I have not spoken to him directly."
Asked whether he knows the supreme leader's location, Trump declined to confirm it publicly. "I don't want to say whether or not I know where he is. But there's a good probability that I do."
Trump said he has no plans to withdraw the approximately 50,000 U.S. troops deployed to the region, even while characterizing Iran's military as severely degraded.
"It costs us very little to keep them there," he said, noting, "I would say it would be foolhardy to do that because maybe we may use them."
"I think we'll keep them there until such time as we have a completion," he added.
Trump acknowledged the war had driven up gasoline and fertilizer prices for Americans but said he made a deliberate choice. "I could've kept it that way. But I said, I have to take a little bit of a turn... I'm going to get rid of a nuclear weapon in the hands of very dangerous people."
He predicted sharp economic relief once the conflict ends, saying, "When we have a completion, you will see things like you've never seen. The oil will go down."
An Economist/YouGov survey released this week showed 68% of American adults believe the U.S. "should make a deal to end the war in Iran as quickly as possible," including 55% of Trump voters from the 2024 election.
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