Pelosi on Trump’s Iran deal: A ‘gift to the Iranians’

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Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday said Americans “paid the price” for President Trump’s “mistake” in taking military action against Iran, describing the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding (MOU) as a “real gift to the Iranians.”

“The current occupant of the White House tearing that up and then going forward with an agreement that it fails on every score until the certainty of them not producing a weapon in terms of us now having to come up with our share of $300 billion, lifting sanctions, waivers on their settlement oil,” Pelosi, while attending the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, told The Hill’s sister network NewsNation.

“And what did we do?” the former Speaker added. “It cost us over $100 billion. More importantly, it cost us 13 lives. And it cost the average American hundreds and hundreds of dollars at the pump. They paid the price for his mistake.”

She praised the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Obama administration’s deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program and prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon, as a “masterful performance of diplomacy and security for our country and for the world.”

The preliminary MOU between the U.S. and Iran to end all hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for lifting sanctions on Iran took “immediate effect” on Wednesday, according to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who was among the chief mediators between both countries.

Trump is facing mounting criticism over the 14-point MOU, with some Republicans warning that the deal could be a disaster if the U.S. and Iran do not come to a final agreement over the nuclear program in 60 days.

“Ronald Reagan is rolling over in his grave,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) wrote in a post on the social platform X, calling the war and its outcome the “worst foreign policy blunder in decades.”

“History teaches that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea. I think the president is receiving some very poor advice on this deal,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said, blasting the component of the MOU that would give Iran access to a $300 billion reconstruction fund.

Vice President Vance defended the deal against GOP criticism while leading a White House press briefing on Thursday. He is set to lead the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program and was expected to attend an in-person signing of the MOU in Lucerne, Switzerland, on Friday, but it has not been confirmed if those plans are proceeding.

“The idea that he is going to strike a deal that’s been bad for the American people, it’s preposterous,” Vance told reporters, referring to Trump. “He is the person who has had the courage to fundamentally transform our relationship with Iran and with a lot of other countries over the last year and a half.”

Vance also said he’s not worried about taking the fall in case the Iran deal fails. He said the president was joking when he suggested that he will be “blaming JD” if the deal falls through.

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