Two days after details emerged of a likely memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran, criticism of President Donald Trump intensified sharply in Washington, including from conservative allies. On Tuesday, the New York Post, a paper Trump often praises, ran a highly unusual front page attacking the deal and portraying it as surrender to Tehran.
The headline, "EASY MULLAH," showed a smiling Iranian cleric holding U.S. dollar bills against an oil-field backdrop. The subhead said Iran would receive a $10 billion boost to its oil account from the United States before any full nuclear agreement is signed. The paper also repeated its earlier judgment that the arrangement was worse than Barack Obama's deal, saying Trump had moved beyond shifting the goalposts and had changed the sport, the field and the rules just to claim victory.
According to the report, the terms under discussion would lift all sanctions on Iranian oil for the next 60 days, potentially channeling about $10 billion to the Islamic Republic. Vice President J.D. Vance has tried to calm concerns by saying Iran agreed to allow the return of international nuclear inspectors, but no final agreement has been signed yet. Meanwhile, Trump lashed out on Truth Social after returning from the G7 summit, saying critics who think he was not tough enough on Iran are "either jealous, or bad people, or just plain stupid." He added that stock markets were at record highs and oil prices were falling.
The backlash cut across both parties. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said, "Ronald Reagan is turning over in his grave," arguing Iran's nuclear ambitions had not been contained and that the regime had learned threats in the Strait of Hormuz pay off. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas called it a "Marshall Plan for Iran," warning that money given to the regime would be used to kill Americans. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said sanctions relief could bring Iran $150 million to $200 million a day, or $4.5 billion to $6 billion a month, which he said would fund drones, missiles, Hamas and Hezbollah. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also questioned whether the memorandum leaves Iran worse off and the United States better off.
Democrats joined the criticism. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Iran had won almost all of the 14 published sections and predicted the deal would go down as one of America's great foreign policy disasters. Senator Richard Blumenthal called it a "shameful agreement" that looked like an unconditional surrender by the United States, warning that anyone defending it in Congress would face bipartisan condemnation.
