Exclusive: Iran supreme leader’s adviser says talks deadlocked over $24 billion and warns of wider war | CNN

A potential peace deal between the United States and Iran hinges on the Trump administration agreeing to release $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets, a top Iranian official told CNN on Friday, warning that the US would “enter into a dark corridor” should it resume fighting. “The negotiations are at a deadlock and (US President Donald) Trump must break this deadlock,” Mohsen Rezaei, military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, told CNN in an exclusive interview in Tehran. “The ball is in Trump’s court.” Iran has reportedly demanded the release of $12 billion in frozen funds as soon as an interim agreement is signed with the US, and another $12 billion at a later stage. US officials are concerned that any unfreezing of funds at this stage could remove a key leverage point over the regime. Trump has demanded that any agreement appear far stronger than the nuclear deal struck in 2015, and to avoid anything that could be construed as handing over “pallets of cash,” a phrase he has invoked to criticize then-President Barack Obama’s decision to give Tehran financial compensation. In a rare interview with CNN, Rezaei shed light on the thinking inside