President Donald Trump strongly dismissed reports of a leaked memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran on Wednesday. The president made it clear that the U.S. will not provide any funding as part of the new ceasefire framework.
Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked the president about a rumored $300 billion investment and reconstruction fund backed by Gulf allies. Trump immediately shot down the claims. "It's false. False," Trump responded.
The president emphasized that any potential reconstruction efforts would not involve American taxpayer dollars. "You can invest if you want. I mean, what am I going to do, say nobody's ever allowed to invest? No, we're not investing. We're not putting up $0.10. And, people can decide to do that, but that's up to them. I mean, do you want me to say nobody's ever allowed to invest in in a country?" Trump said.
Trump firmly reiterated that the United States is keeping its wallet closed regarding the Middle Eastern nation. "We are not investing in it and we do not have a fund," Trump said.
Doocy pressed further on whether the administration was actively urging Gulf nations to finance the rebuilding efforts. The president denied making any such request. "No, I'm not," Trump replied.
Trump noted that foreign partners would likely wait to see how the regime acts before making any financial commitments. "If they do it, fine. But I would say they won't be doing it for a while until they find out the behavior. It's a behavior thing, but we are not investing. That's a false story that got picked up incorrectly," Trump said.
The commander-in-chief also warned that the preliminary framework is far from a permanent agreement. He stated that the U.S. military is fully prepared to resume defensive strikes if the regime violates the terms.
"No, it's not final it's a memorandum of understanding and if I don't like it, we'll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs on their head," Trump said.
The president concluded with a blunt warning regarding the decades of hostility from Tehran. "If I don't like it, if they don't behave, we'll go right back to dropping bombs right smack on the middle of their head, ok? Because they've misbehaved for 47 years," Trump added.