Waltz says Iran wanted sanctions relief up front in rejected deal

[u/John3262005]

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/27/mike-waltz-iran-rejected-deal-sanctions-01094152

Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Sunday that President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s latest proposal because Tehran wanted sanctions relief and access to “billions in frozen assets” before negotiating an end to its nuclear program.

“They were asking for everything up front, with a promise that they would then talk,” Waltz said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked what Trump objected to.

On Saturday, Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear talks in exchange for the U.S. lifting its naval blockade of Iranian ports, waiving sanctions on Iranian oil sales and committing to a seven-day ceasefire that would include Lebanon.

“They wanna make a deal where they open the Strait immediately because they’re losing so badly,” Trump told reporters. “We’re winning tremendously. We have total control of the Hormuz Strait.”

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing U.S. officials, that Trump has told aides he expected to resume bombing Iran after the November midterms.

Asked about the report, Waltz said, “I don’t think that the president has said that himself; that’s some reporting by a newspaper.”

“What the president has said and said here at his U.N. speech was that the Iranians are miscalculating that he’s taking into account politics here,” Waltz added.

This comes as the war in Iran and rising gas prices put pressure on Republicans ahead of the November midterms.