Bessent says Arab allies aided US effort to freeze Iran funds - Fox News

President Donald Trump has toughened the terms of a potential framework for a deal to end the war in Iran and sent the proposed changes back to the country for consideration, the New York Times reported, citing three officials.

It was not immediately clear what changes had been made to the text of the agreement, the report said.

Trump has been concerned about parts of the potential deal that would include unfreezing funds for Iran, the report said, citing two officials.

Trump has also been frustrated by how long it has taken for Iran to respond to US proposals, one official said.

The proposals have been hammered out with the involvement of intermediaries, including from Pakistan, the report said.

One official added that Trump’s changes were potentially intended to speed up the process by putting pressure on Iran to accept the framework already sent to Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, for approval.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said President Donald Trump would ensure Iran kept its promises under any agreement and warned that any deal would be enforced militarily and economically.

"What I have confidence in is that President Trump's going to hold them to it," Bessent said in an interview with Fox News.

"That with the Iranians, we'll see. Their government, as I've said, we didn't have regime change, but we changed the regime," he said.

"The first layer was decapitated, second layer decapitated. We're on the third group so maybe they have seen what happened to the others and they see what President Trump is willing to do," he added.

"So if President Trump agrees to this deal, I would tell the Iranian leaders right now, he will enforce it. And both military and economically," Bessent said.

Iran is poised to fire far more long-range missiles at Israel and other Middle Eastern nations after rapidly digging out its buried arsenals, CNN reported, citing experts and satellite imagery.

Iran has used bulldozers and dump trucks to excavate entrances to its underground missile bases after they were blocked by US and Israeli bombing, the report said.

The report added that Iran has now unblocked 50 out of the 69 tunnel entrances struck by the US and Israel at 18 underground missile facilities.

Negotiations with the United States to end the war are underway but will yield no result, Esmail Kowsari, a member of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, said.

"We have not reached a final agreement and we know they will not achieve any result," Kowsari said.

He said the nuclear issue had been removed from the negotiating table with the United States.

Kowsari added that Iran was negotiating on preventing a repeat of the war, payment of compensation, the withdrawal of US forces from the region and the lifting of the naval blockade.

"Many countries have accepted Iran's control over the Strait," Kowsari added.

Mediators are continuing to discuss a memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States, CBS News reported on Sunday, citing a source with knowledge.

President Donald Trump made edits to the proposal on Friday, the report said.

The edited proposal was sent back to Tehran for approval, but Iran has not yet shared a response, the report said.

The report said it was the third round of edits Trump had made to the US proposal, which has been passed back and forth to Tehran through mediators led by Pakistan.

The source said the US changes were somewhat significant, though details were not immediately available. No immediate deadline has been set, the report added.