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President Donald Trump said talks on ending the war with Iran are progressing, but the potential agreement is already facing criticism from some members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. “It isn’t even fully negotiated yet. So don’t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about,” Trump wrote on social media Sunday. “Unlike those before me who should have solved this problem many years ago, I don’t make bad deals!”What’s the status of negotiations?Trump said Sunday that talks are proceeding in an “orderly constructive manner,” but that he told his team “not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side.” Earlier in the weekend, he said that the final details of an agreement would be “announced shortly.” Those details had not been made public as of Sunday night, but the Associated Press reports that a potential peace agreement would end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, although the process for handing it over would be subject to further talks over 60 days.The U.S. would reportedly withhold sanctions relief if Iran refused to relinquish its stockpile. It was not immediately clear if the agreement would explicitly prohibit Iran from enriching uranium in the future. Iran has not publicly committed to those terms and has long insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, even as Tehran has enriched uranium to near weapons-grade levels. “President Trump and I agreed that any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear danger,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on social media Sunday. “That means dismantling Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites and removing its enriched nuclear material from its territory.”How is Congress reacting?Some Republicans, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, raised concerns that a premature deal could empower Iran and jeopardize the progress of the president’s military operation.”The rumored 60-day ceasefire — with the belief that Iran will ever engage in good faith — would be a disaster. Everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught,” wrote Wicker, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, echoed Wicker’s concerns and questioned previous comments from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. “We were told about 11 weeks ago by Hegseth and the Department of Defense that they had obliterated Iran’s defenses, and it was just a matter of time before we had the nuclear material. Now we’re talking about a posture where we may accept the nuclear material remaining in Iran. How does that make sense at all?” Tillis told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said on social media that the priority should be to end the war immediately, even as he criticized what was known about the deal’s framework. “If this deal with Iran is real, I will welcome it because every day this insane war goes on, America gets weaker,” Murphy said. “But make no mistake: these are Iran’s terms. Our nation emerges humiliated.” Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York, pushed back on critics and noted that Trump has “been clear and consistent” from the very beginning that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. “So I think it is imperative, before everybody rushes to get to the microphone, that they actually understand the terms of the agreement that is being proposed, and specifically with respect to the enriched uranium,” Lawler told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. Lawmakers are generally eager to see the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil shipping route, reopened. Experts predict that it could still take several weeks or even months for gas prices to fall after that, but the exact timeline is uncertain as past agreements to free up traffic in the Strait have been short-lived.
President Donald Trump said talks on ending the war with Iran are progressing, but the potential agreement is already facing criticism from some members of Congress on both sides of the aisle.
“It isn’t even fully negotiated yet. So don’t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about,” Trump wrote on social media Sunday. “Unlike those before me who should have solved this problem many years ago, I don’t make bad deals!”
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What’s the status of negotiations?
Trump said Sunday that talks are proceeding in an “orderly constructive manner,” but that he told his team “not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side.” Earlier in the weekend, he said that the final details of an agreement would be “announced shortly.”
Those details had not been made public as of Sunday night, but the Associated Press reports that a potential peace agreement would end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, although the process for handing it over would be subject to further talks over 60 days.
The U.S. would reportedly withhold sanctions relief if Iran refused to relinquish its stockpile. It was not immediately clear if the agreement would explicitly prohibit Iran from enriching uranium in the future.
Iran has not publicly committed to those terms and has long insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, even as Tehran has enriched uranium to near weapons-grade levels.
“President Trump and I agreed that any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear danger,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on social media Sunday. “That means dismantling Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites and removing its enriched nuclear material from its territory.”
How is Congress reacting?
Some Republicans, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, raised concerns that a premature deal could empower Iran and jeopardize the progress of the president’s military operation.
“The rumored 60-day ceasefire — with the belief that Iran will ever engage in good faith — would be a disaster. Everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught,” wrote Wicker, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, echoed Wicker’s concerns and questioned previous comments from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“We were told about 11 weeks ago by Hegseth and the Department of Defense that they had obliterated Iran’s defenses, and it was just a matter of time before we had the nuclear material. Now we’re talking about a posture where we may accept the nuclear material remaining in Iran. How does that make sense at all?” Tillis told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said on social media that the priority should be to end the war immediately, even as he criticized what was known about the deal’s framework.
“If this deal with Iran is real, I will welcome it because every day this insane war goes on, America gets weaker,” Murphy said. “But make no mistake: these are Iran’s terms. Our nation emerges humiliated.”
Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York, pushed back on critics and noted that Trump has “been clear and consistent” from the very beginning that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
“So I think it is imperative, before everybody rushes to get to the microphone, that they actually understand the terms of the agreement that is being proposed, and specifically with respect to the enriched uranium,” Lawler told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
Lawmakers are generally eager to see the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil shipping route, reopened. Experts predict that it could still take several weeks or even months for gas prices to fall after that, but the exact timeline is uncertain as past agreements to free up traffic in the Strait have been short-lived.
