Foreign Policy > Iran

The US-Iran MOU is worse than we thought

Sure, it’s a ‘deal’...but what kind?

Raymond Shwake | June 20, 2026

In recent days, we’ve been exposed to claims from parties sympathetic to the Islamic regime regarding the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) reached after many months of negotiations.  Those reports have raised concerns in many quarters but have been denied as “fake news” by the administration, which as of this writing has not released the text.

But now that the text has been leaked, and confirmed as legitimate, we see that the terms are even more egregious than feared.  Many of us who have supported this administration are left dumbfounded that Trump, who laid out both the justification for war and its objectives in the opening days, has cast it all aside in what can only be seen as a craven submission to Iranian demands.

Trump insists that this agreement is a great victory, one laying the foundation for a peaceful and prosperous Middle East.  But this is gaslighting.

V.P. Vance has taken the lead role in portraying a capitulation as a great accomplishment.  There has been no “unconditional surrender” to U.S. terms — rather, the opposite.  In failing to translate military achievements into strategic wins for the U.S., Trump has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Trump certainly saw Iran as a vague threat down the line, whereas our ally in the fight, Israel, saw Iran as an existential threat that would remain so as long as the regime remained in place.  So for Trump, it was more transactional, even as his internal........

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