5 reasons Trump allies don’t like his Iran deal

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Some of President Trump’s most prominent allies in his war on Iran are revolting against the reported contours of his memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Tehran to end the conflict.

Conservative pundits and hawkish Iran experts are warning against any agreement that gives up key leverage against the Islamic Republic, or opens access to badly needed funds, without completely giving up its nuclear capacity.

The text of the deal is not released, but it would reportedly allow Iran to immediately restart oil exports free from U.S. trade and banking sanctions, while Gulf states would contribute to a $300 billion reconstruction fund as part of a final deal.

Iran would commit to never pursuing nuclear weapons and to hand over its enriched uranium, though the details of that process would be hammered out in future talks.

While the memorandum is largely meant to set the terms for future negotiations, Iran hawks are worried Tehran has no intention of following through and will use the financial lifeline and reprieve from fighting to rebuild both militarily and organizationally.

“Ask yourself: Why are so many of us who support and defend President Trump all expressing the same concerns about this deal?” asked Marc Thiessen, a conservative commentator with a line to the president, on Tuesday.

“If we’re wrong release the MOU and show the world there’s nothing to be concerned about.”

Here are five reasons Iran hawks are alarmed:

The text is not yet available

Two senior administration officials told reporters in a call on Monday that text would be available within 24 to 48 hours. But Trump suggested this week that the text of the deal would be released after an official signing on Friday.

“I’d like to get a formal setting first before we do that, but I have no problem with that. Here’s what it says — Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, that’s what it says. It won’t have one, to buy, to develop,” the president said Tuesday in France.

“I’ll probably have a press conference and read it to you word by word, so the press covers it accurately,” he said.

Sen Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally and stalwart Israel supporter, said on Sunday he was concerned Iran’s description of the deal diverges from U.S. descriptions.

In a Monday post on the social platform X, he said, “I look forward to reviewing the actual document rather than relying on Iranian propaganda reports,” adding, “The sooner it is released, the better.”

Other Iran hawks have called on the administration to release the text of the agreement.

“I can’t square some of the things that are coming out of the administration from reliable sources. That’s what I find so disturbing,” Retired Army Gen. Jack Keane said Monday on Fox News’s “Hannity.”

“It’s not defensible. I think what the president should do is, just let’s release it and let people see what’s out there, so we stop debating about something none of us has seen,” added Keane, who is now the chair of the Institute for the Study of War.

Little substance on nuclear program

Vance told NBC News on Monday that the deal spells out Iran’s commitment to work with the U.S. and the International Atomic Energy Agency to destroy its highly enriched stockpile.

But Trump on Tuesday told reporters the U.S. is in no hurry because it was using satellites to monitor the facility where it is buried.

“We’re in no rush, but we get it, and when we get it, we’ll destroy it,” he said.

Vance suggested in an interview on Fox News on Monday night that Iran has not yet agreed to halt its enrichment of uranium.

“They’re agreeing right now to eliminate the enriched stockpile,” Vance said. “And, if they don’t get to a point where they agree to stop enriching, then they don’t get any other benefits of the bargain.”

Trump has insisted that Iran’s commitment not to pursue a nuclear weapon in the deal is enough to declare victory, telling reporters that was “99.9 percent” of what he wanted in launching the war.

Some of his supporters don’t agree.

“If the president signed a bad deal, many of us who cheered and stood by him and thought that his action in Iran was heroic, will be extraordinarily disappointed,” pro-Israel commentator Ben Shapiro told The Wall Street Journal.

“It is not enough to win the first half of the basketball game,” he added. “You have to close it out.”

MOU allows Iran to resume oil exports

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday the memorandum would immediately allow Iran to begin exporting oil and fuel, with the U.S. waiving transport and banking sanctions.

“If this is true, Iran wins. There should be zero sanctions relief day one,” Nikki Haley, Trump’s former ambassador to the U.N. and 2024 presidential contender, wrote on X.

Miad Maleki, a former Treasury official at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), said if the Journal report is true, “The administration is trading away its most durable economic lever before the hard part of the negotiation has even started.”

The U.S. would also lift its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz immediately, with Iran allowing toll-free passage through the strait for 60 days — the time allotted for negotiations on a final deal.

The official said that toll-free passage through the strait is expected “to become part of the final agreement as well.”

But if Iran and the U.S. don’t reach a final agreement, the strait could once again become a battlefront.

One GOP congressional aide said the emerging details of the deal “suck,” but the silver lining is that at least there’s an agreement to open the strait, with an open question of what happens to the critical maritime corridor if the U.S. and Iran don’t reach a deal in 60 days.

It creates $300B reconstruction fund for Iran

Vance confirmed on Monday that a final agreement with Iran could create a “$300 billion fund” for Iran to use for reconstruction, funded by Gulf countries.

The fund, alongside the possibility of releasing frozen Iranian funds and sanctions relief, is “tied to performance,” according to a senior official who briefed reporters. It’s unclear what those conditions will be.

The official said Iran will not be rewarded financially for “showing up at a meeting or to open the Strait,” and that the U.S. does not want to give them access to their funds or release funds “if they’re just going to use that money to fund terrorists more instability in the region.”

Thiessen, the Washington Post columnist, called the floated $300 billion for Iran “a disaster.”

“Like [if we] offered the Marshall Plan to rebuild Germany while the Nazis were still in power,” he wrote on social media.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers earlier this month that there are “some sanctions” the Trump administration can lift on its own, while others would require congressional or international consultation.

“Any sanctions relief is conditions based, which means it has to be in return for the reason why those sanctions were put in place in the first place, which is their nuclear program,” he said.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the FDD’s Iran program, said there’s “a lot” he’s looking for in the deal.

“The first thing I would say is money, the U.S. has been adamant that no cash will go to the Islamic Republic, but what about the regime’s access to frozen funds? Will it be governed by the same humanitarian structures that exist in U.S. law?” he said Tuesday on ABC News.

“If so, those are things that Republicans have been opposing, whether in the House or Senate, or even presidential contenders like the president himself will be critical of [former Presidents] Obama and Biden when it comes to the existence of these mechanisms because money, after all, is fungible.”

Israel’s hands tied on Lebanon

Israeli figures across the political spectrum have railed against the agreement, which would officially extend the ceasefire in Iran to Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting against Hezbollah.

That frustration has largely focused on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who urged Trump to launch the war in the first place.

Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the FDD, said the early details regarding Lebanon appear as a “recipe for chaos.”

“It gives Iranians leverage to how Israel can respond to threats on its own border, it can derail the talks, derail the process,” he said.

A senior administration official confirmed a ceasefire in Lebanon is part of the MOU, but put the responsibility on Iran to hold back Hezbollah.

The official said Israel retains the right to hit back at Hezbollah in self-defense and is not required to withdraw from Lebanon as part of the agreement and added that a “final peace… hopefully will include a lot of these proxy groups.”

Hezbollah told Reuters on Tuesday that there ​would ⁠be “no nuclear deal between Iran and the United ⁠States ​unless the ​Israelis withdraw” from Lebanon.

Netanyahu and his top officials insist Israel has no intention of withdrawing from southern Lebanon, where it has pushed back Hezbollah to prevent cross-border attacks on Israelis.

Trump on Tuesday suggested that Syrian forces rout Hezbollah, a pitch that regional experts dismissed out of hand. Israel, antagonistic toward the new regime of Ahmed al-Sharaa, is unlikely to freelance its security to Damascus.

Filip Timotija and Mallory Wilson contributed.

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