The Memo: Vance tries to sell Iran deal as skeptics get loud

Vice President Vance was once again thrust to the fore in trying to calm GOP unease over the interim deal between Iran and the U.S. on Thursday. It’s no easy task.

Several Republican lawmakers and a larger number of prominent conservative commentators are criticizing the deal. Their complaints vary in the specifics, but the common theme is that the memorandum of understanding (MOU) is too soft on Iran and does too little to protect American — and Israeli — interests.

Vance went before the media in the White House briefing room to make the case for the defense. His core argument was that the most ostensibly generous elements of the MOU hinge upon Iranian compliance and will never become relevant unless Tehran plays ball.

“The idea that they get benefits before they change their behavior is fundamentally a talking point that is issued by people who want the conflict to continue indefinitely,” Vance said at one point.

His reference to such people hinted at the GOP division between an “America First” faction that leans toward isolationism generally and a more hawkish or neoconservative group that is aghast at the deal.

Vance, who served in a noncombat role in Iraq as a Marine two decades ago, is identified very much with the “America First” school of thought. He is widely reported to have been among the most skeptical members of Trump’s inner circle with respect to the desirability of attacking Iran in the first place.

But despite efforts from him and Trump — who held his own news conference the previous day as he prepared to leave a Group of Seven summit in France — criticism keeps growing.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) on Thursday issued a scathing assessment of the deal.

Wicker, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, complained that the MOU “negotiates away the victories” accomplished by the U.S.........

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