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President Donald Trump’s proposed Iran agreement is drawing sharp criticism from some of his strongest supporters, who argue the deal rewards Tehran before it has agreed to fully dismantle its nuclear program.
The 14-point framework agreement, unveiled on Wednesday, establishes an immediate ceasefire between the United States and Iran, with key provisions including the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the removal of the U.S. naval blockade, temporary waivers allowing Iranian oil exports, access to frozen Iranian assets and a commitment to negotiate a final agreement within 60 days. The framework also outlines a proposed economic reconstruction package reportedly worth at least $300 billion and includes Iran’s renewed pledge not to pursue nuclear weapons.
However, critics note that the agreement does not require the immediate dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, the removal of enriched uranium stockpiles, restrictions on Tehran’s ballistic missile program or the disbandment of Iranian-backed proxy groups such as Hezbollah.
Despite the administration portraying the agreement as a breakthrough, critics have argued that the concessions offered to Iran far outweigh the commitments secured in return.
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“The deal is absolutely terrible, there’s no getting around it,” Will Chamberlain, senior counsel at the Article III Project and vice president of external affairs at the Edmund Burke Foundation, wrote on X. “The text gives Iranians huge, immediate financial benefits and protection for Hezbollah in exchange for opening the Strait – and nothing else. President Trump should renege.”
Conservative talk radio host Mark Levin praised President Trump’s decision to use military force against Iran but sharply criticized the proposed MOU, arguing that it abandons U.S. leverage before Tehran has made meaningful concessions.
“From day one, I have underscored that no deal will be honored by the Iranian regime,” Levin wrote on X, adding, “Why would we agree to immediately drop the most important leverage we have over the regime in advance of it complying with MOU requirements?”
AG Hamilton, the pseudonym of a licensed attorney and conservative commentator with a large following on X, sharply criticized the preliminary U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding.
“So they get to keep the nuclear program, the ballistic missile program, and funding for terror proxies. But they will pinky promise not to build a full nuke while getting billions of financial relief to fund all of that. Great deal. Should have had Kamala Harris negotiate it,” AG wrote.
Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official who served during President Donald Trump’s first term and is a known critic of the president, called the memorandum of understanding “pathetic.”
“I was involved in Iran issues in the first Trump administration,” Taylor wrote on X. “The Trump ‘deal’ could be the most humiliating in U.S. diplomatic history. Hundred of billions in exchange for a ‘promise’ we already had.”
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Atlanta-based conservative talk radio host Erick Erickson called it “American surrender.”
The deal came as little surprise to many observers, as versions of the alleged memorandum had been circulating for days.
“So the MOU is the same one that’s been out for days (as many of us have known the whole time, because we’ve been doing this for a while). And it’s as awful today as it was all week,” conservative commentator David Reaboi wrote on X.
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also delivered a lengthy and highly critical response, mocking the administration’s handling of the conflict and questioning the rationale behind a proposed reconstruction fund for Iran. Greene argued that American taxpayers would ultimately bear the financial burden while the Iranian regime remained in power.
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Trump’s former vice president and 2024 rival Mike Pence said the ceasefire agreement was almost identical to the Obama and Biden administration’s approach to the Iranians.
“The reported MOU with Iran smacks of the kind of appeasement that we saw during the Obama years, the kind of appeasement that Joe Biden tried to accomplish and was ignored by the Iranians, and the kind of appeasement we categorically rejected during the first Trump administration,” Pence wrote on X.
And former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, another 2024 Republican candidate for president defeated by Trump, called the agreement a “huge mistake.”
TRUMP BROKERS IRAN CEASEFIRE AS EXPERTS SAY REGIME’S ARSENAL IS SHATTERED BUT THREAT REMAINS
“Hitting Iran’s nuclear and missile sites was the right move. This regime chants death to America, murders our troops, and attempts to assassinate Americans on U.S. soil. They believe they have an obligation to destroy us,” Haley wrote on X.
“Now, we plan to unlock billions of dollars and lift sanctions, with the promise of even more money. They will use that money the way they always do— to further their nuclear ambitions and on terrorist proxies against us. It’s a huge mistake to pay to rebuild the threat we just destroyed.”
Others, however, welcomed the move away from further military escalation. Broadcaster Piers Morgan said he was pleased to see Trump seeking an exit from the conflict, even while criticizing the circumstances that led to it.
“This Iran deal is about as far removed from ‘unconditional surrender’ as any deal in the history of Planet Earth,” Morgan wrote on X. “I’m glad President Trump is getting out of this fiasco, but I bet if he had his time again, he’d have never got into it or believed Netanyahu’s bullsh*t.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
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