Between Operation Midnight Hammer last June and the recently completed Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. military, on President Trump’s orders, has turned Iran’s nuclear sites into rubble. It’s also eliminated Iran’s Navy, Air Force, air defenses, much of the regime’s ballistic missiles and drone-launching capability, not to mention many of its senior political and military leaders. Meanwhile, Iran’s economy is in tatters thanks to a crippling U.S. naval blockade.
The president was bold and decisive, and he deserves immense credit for all of this. So does our great ally Israel, which fought bravely by our side in these operations. Great things were achieved, and the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism was on the ropes and more vulnerable than ever to an uprising by the long-suffering Iranian people.
That’s why I’m so baffled by the Memorandum of Understanding that President Trump signed with Iran on Wednesday.
Now, this memorandum is not a final deal. It’s an agreement between the United States and Iran to continue talking for the next 60 days in hopes of achieving a final deal—and as we know with Iran’s terrorist regime, nothing is guaranteed.
Some of what is laid out in the current memorandum, which again is the basis for a final deal, is deeply troubling.
First, Iran pledges not to develop nuclear weapons. That is their promise. Scouts honor. Gee, now I feel better! Are we to believe that the most untrustworthy regime on the planet, which, in 47 years, has never signed a deal it has not broken, has now suddenly discovered the concepts of honesty and transparency? Or will they simply restart their nuclear program once President Trump leaves office?
Folks, the Iranians have not suddenly seen the light. They are engaged in the Islamic concept of taqiyya, deception, as David Brody of CBN News pointed out to Vice President Vance on Wednesday:
David Brody: It kind of goes to the theological issues within Islam, specifically the way they, the regime, sees it: taqiyya, which basically allows you to lie in righteousness, if you will. There is Hudaybiyyah, which is the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, which Mohammed signed in the 6th century, which basically says that’s a way for them to retool and to rearm. And this is part of their mindset. It’s a theology. How concerning is that to you?
JD Vance: Well, you know, I certainly hope that they’re not lying, but it’s not concerning to me because I don’t really trust anybody. And I think this is one of the things the president has told us to do in this negotiation is don’t trust any words that are written on paper, which is why I think both the good and the bad of this entire negotiation—meaning I shouldn’t say the bad… The good things for America and also the good things for Iran fundamentally only happen through action. And that’s what we have set this up to do.
So if they do things, then they get things. If they don’t do anything, then they don’t get any of the benefits of the bargain. I am sure that there are people within their system who are not telling us exactly what’s on their mind.
That’s just the way that these things go. But that’s why the president has told us, don’t reward good words, reward good conduct if that happens. And if not, we don’t; no skin off our back.
Iran does get one big immediate benefit. It will restart its oil exports as the U.S. lifts its naval blockade. Other deal points, thankfully, are contingent on Iran’s behavior.
According to the Memorandum of Understanding, if Iran keeps its end of the bargain—a big if—it will receive U.S. sanctions relief, plus $300 billion in reconstruction money from Arab Gulf states, some of the same Gulf states, presumably, that Iran just spent months bombing during the war.
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