Trump Rejects Reports of Unconditional Iran Payment, Says Tehran Won't Get Nuclear Weapons

President Donald Trump rejected reports on Tuesday night that a memorandum of understanding with Iran would give the Islamic Republic $300 million with no conditions. Writing on Truth Social, Trump said, "Iran agreed that it will never possess nuclear weapons! Also, the story that the United States is paying Iran 300 million dollars is fake news!"

At the same time, U.S. Vice President JD Vance told CNN that the memorandum drafted with Tehran is extremely brief, about "a page and a half" long. He said it is only a broad framework, leaving the detailed and difficult points for later operational talks. "Yes, the memorandum of understanding is about a page and a half, so it is a very general document," Vance said.

Vance said several major logistical issues still have not been resolved, but the agreement creates a built-in structure of mutual guarantees. "In a number of issues, we will need to solve these things during the technical negotiation phase, but what the memorandum does is establish a framework in which the Iranians will receive the benefits of the deal by meeting their commitments," he said.

The vice president added that the first clause sets strict ground rules for Tehran and reflects a mutual commitment to regional calm. He said it is a direct instruction to the Islamic Republic to cut ties with armed terrorist groups. "What the first clause in the agreement says, essentially, is that Iran commits, just as the United States commits, to peace and regional stability," Vance said. "Part of that is that the Iranians must stop funding violent terrorist organizations, they must stop funding regional instability."