Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz, an Iran hawk in Congress, questioned the $300bn fund for Iran.<\/p>\n
“Giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea,” Cruz told reporters. “I think the president, unfortunately, is receiving bad advice.”<\/p>\n
Earlier on Wednesday, US officials held a media briefing, where they read out the text verbatim from the memo and denied the US was required to pay “a cent of money” to Iran under the $300bn fund.<\/p>\n
As a hypothetical example, one official said that if Iran “behaves”, Emirati authorities could build a power plant in Iran, with US blessing.<\/p>\n
At the G7 summit, Trump said reports that the US would give Iran money under the fund were a “fake story”.<\/p>\n
“We don’t give them money,” he says. “We don’t give them any of that.”<\/p>\n
But he also said Iranian assets frozen during the war should be returned.<\/p>\n
“It’s not our money, it’s their money, and we froze it,” Trump said. “At a certain point in time, I guess we’re going to have to give it back.”<\/p>\n
He has previously railed against former US President Barack Obama for unfreezing $1.7bn in Iranian assets, including interest, under a 2015 nuclear agreement with the country. Trump scrapped the Obama era deal during his first term in the White House.<\/p>\n
Democrats, meanwhile, were withering in their assessment of Trump’s plan.<\/p>\n