Trump disputes ‘hoax’ report claiming he offered Iran financial relief for nuclear progress

WASHINGTON, DC: Financial relief for Iran appears to be the last thing on Donald Trump’s negotiating table, and he made that clear with his latest furious Truth Social post.

The 80-year-old president, on Monday, September 28, lashed out at reports claiming that he had offered Iran financial relief as part of a final deal, provided Tehran made "concrete progress" on the nuclear issue.

This came after Trump rejected an Iran-proposed deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, despite calls from within his own party to end the war as soon as possible ahead of the midterm elections.

Trump denies offering Iran sanctions relief

After attacking Joe Scarborough and Bill Maher over their alleged ‘low ratings’, the Commander-in-Chief took to Truth Social to dismiss reports about the Iran negotiations.

“Axios just released a story that “Trump” offered Sanctions Relief and Frozen Funds to Iran. This is untrue. I offered them NOTHING!” Trump vehemently declared.

“Axios’ story, like most others, is a HOAX, used only for purposes of satisfying their Trump Derangement Syndrome. They should withdraw this fake story, IMMEDIATELY!” he continued.

The story Trump was referring to was published by Axios on Monday.

Reporter Barak Ravid cited US officials as saying that the president was prepared to ease sanctions on Iran and unfreeze Iranian funds in exchange for concessions from Tehran on its nuclear program. 

One official told Ravid that the talks had been “positive and constructive” and that Iran “has indicated they are flexible on the nuclear issues,” while emphasizing that no agreement would be possible “unless the nuclear issues are addressed."

“The US position gets stronger every day, and President Trump remains patient and fully committed to his goal that Iran never have a nuclear weapon,” the official added.

The report also revealed that Qatari mediators met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in New York on Monday and were expected to hold talks with Trump administration officials later that day or on Tuesday, September 29.

According to the official, Iranian officials had indicated that they were flexible on nuclear issues, but the two sides had yet to reach an agreement on the timing of their commitments.

Trump rejects Iran’s proposal to reopen Strait of Hormuz

Trump’s scathing response came after US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that Trump had rejected the proposal because he did not believe Iran was negotiating in good faith.

He also argued that it was unacceptable for Tehran to be "asking for everything up front."

"The bottom line is they were asking for everything up front with a promise that they would then talk," Waltz said on 'State of the Union.'

Waltz later told NBC’s 'Meet the Press' that “it's kind of common sense” that Trump does not have much confidence in Iran’s proposal. He dismissed Tehran’s latest offer as “a pretty cynical attempt to put something on the table that they knew was unacceptable.”

The US official also reiterated Waltz’s view that Washington remains skeptical of Iran’s commitments, pointing to what the official described as Tehran’s violation of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding reached in July, when Iran allegedly fired on commercial vessels.