US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would consider lifting sanctions against Iran, including those targeting its oil exports, if the country shows it is willing to stop hostile behavior and pursue a more peaceful course.
“Sanctions cost us a lot of money but I would... start waiving them for countries like Iran, if they behave themselves, where they can sell oil and they can do the things that you want to be able to do," Trump told Fox News in an interview aired on Sunday.
On June 24, Trump declared on Truth Social that that China can now resume purchasing oil from Iran. One day later, he said he was not aiming to cut off Iran’s oil revenues as it needs it to rebuild after the war with Israel.
However, Trump said on Friday that he halted his work on lifting sanctions on Iran to support its recovery following Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's "statement of anger, hatred, and disgust."
In his Sunday interview, Trump denied suggestions that his administration had allowed China to buy sanctioned Iranian oil, insisting that sanctions remained in place.
But he added that “if they do a job, and if they can be peaceful, and if they can show us they’re not going to do any more harm, I would take the sanctions off.”
Trump also touched on the Israel normalization deals called Abraham Accords, saying the Iranian threat had previously been a major obstacle to broader regional peace.
“Iran was the primary problem,” he said. “I actually thought we had a period of time where I thought Iran would join the Abraham Accords along with everybody else. And, frankly, they would have been better off than where they are right now.”
He added that new countries have shown interest in joining the accords following Iran’s setbacks, without naming specific states.
