The still-mysterious Iran deal leaves a LOT of work undone — at best

 https://nypost.com/2026/06/15/opinion/the-still-mysterious-iran-deal-leaves-a-lot-of-work-undone-at-best/

Aside from the vast damage the war did to Iran’s military assets and the deaths of so many of the ruling cabal, this Memorandum of Understanding seems to leave things right back where they were before the bombs started dropping.

That is: Tehran hasn’t actually agreed to give up its nuclear program or its support of terror groups like Hezbollah and Hamas — but only to talk about it all some more.

Maybe the full MOU text makes things look better . . . or worse: The fact that it’s still a mystery isn’t encouraging.

When does the world get to see it?

If the Strait of Hormuz really opens, it’ll do one good thing — but the planned 60 days of talks could still yield a serious win for Tehran.

O’Reilly: Israeli response to Iran deal ‘a big tell’

 https://thehill.com/policy/international/5925929-israeli-response-trump-iran/

O’Reilly said it’s clear Israel is opposed to the deal and that he understood their position.

“Now, in Iran, the Israelis say openly, ‘We’re not going to be part of this. We’re not going to be a part of the deal, no matter what deal Trump makes.’ The Israelis are not going to sign it. They’re not going to be on board,” O’Reilly told NewsNation’s Leland Vittert on “On Balance.”

“That’s a tell, a big tell, because the Israelis want the ability to strike back any time they want for any attack on them. And I don’t blame Israel,” he added.

In Israel, critics across the political spectrum have argued that the reported terms of the deal are too weak in holding back threats from Iran, not just related to its nuclear program but also its ballistic missile capability and its support for terrorist proxies.

Trump: I’m ‘not happy’ with how Israel has fought Hezbollah; Syria should do so instead

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-june-16-2026/

US president says he’s ‘never cared about’ regime change in Iran, praises current leadership * Switzerland confirms deal will be signed at Burgenstock resort Friday * Haredi legislative boycott puts coalition’s policy blitz at risk

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee reiterates that Hezbollah is not included in the deal between the US and Iran, as Tehran continues to insist that Israel is required to halt its offensive in Lebanon under the terms of the agreement.

'He lost the war': Trump’s retreat fact-checked by general

CIA director doubts Iran's intentions on deal

 https://www.axios.com/2026/06/15/us-iran-deal-cia-director-ratcliffe

CIA Director John Ratcliffe told President Trump and other senior officials that evidence gathered by U.S. intelligence agencies raises serious doubts about Iran's willingness to make the nuclear concessions the U.S. is seeking in any final deal, according to three sources familiar with those discussions.

Friction point: Ratcliffe isn't the only skeptic in Trump's top team. In internal discussions, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth both expressed concerns and raised questions about the memorandum of understanding (MOU) announced Sunday, while Vice President Vance and U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner advocated for it, according to two of the sources.

Trump’s Iran deal greeted with skepticism and scrutiny on Capitol Hill

 https://apnews.com/article/congress-senate-iran-trump-deal-graham-vance-00181f6ba851ad06d1f378946302379b

The agreement announced Sunday to end the war in Iran, set for a ceremonial signing Friday in Geneva, is centered around reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the United States’ naval blockade in the region, along with financial incentives for Iran if it meets certain benchmarks. But Senate Republicans and Democrats who returned to Washington on Monday said there were still many unanswered questions about the deal and they need thorough briefings before it is finalized.

“I just don’t know enough about it,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters in the Capitol. “Even the people who follow this stuff closely up here don’t know that much about it.”

“I think that my understanding of what it entails — and, again, not having seen anything — it would require, I think the issues are going to be compliance, and how are you going to enforce that,” Thune said.

Thune’s concerns were echoed by several other GOP senators.

Unity of G-d

 Rambam (Techiyas Hameisim) Hear 0 Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. The Christians cite this Biblical phrase as proof to their contention that God is three in that they assert: it is stated the Lord, and it is stated our God, and it is stated the Lord, there are thus three names; then it is stated One, proving that they are three and that the three are one. Heaven forbid!

Was it all worth it?

 https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/06/15/was-it-all-worth-it/

Pakistan has published what it claims are the details of the memorandum of understanding between the United States and the regime in Iran. If those details are accurate, Trump's Iran deal is a betrayal of every American, every Iranian, every Israeli, and every victim of the regime's terror and repression.

To say emotions are running high in Israel would be an understatement. It is difficult to describe exactly what many Israelis are feeling right now, but anger and betrayal come close.

While we still do not know the full details of the agreement, Israelis are confronting a painful possibility: after years of war and sacrifice, we may be returning to the very reality we were told we were changing.

We accepted extraordinary sacrifice because we believed we were changing the strategic reality of the Middle East. If we are simply returning to the same reality we were promised would be transformed, then the consequences will extend far beyond this deal. They will shape how Israelis view their leaders, their allies, and the promises made to them in times of war.

Trump Stages an Iran Retreat

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/iran-deal-donald-trump-cease-fire-nuclear-weapons-e2ce72ef?mod=hp_opin_pos_1Most of the press has been hostile from the start, but we’ve supported the President’s Iran policy. We’ve done so because a nuclear Iran would be an existential threat, and because we want Presidents to succeed when they go to war.

The regime gets financial relief to reopen Hormuz and hold more nuclear talks.

President Trump is touting his latest cease-fire deal with Iran as peace in our time, but the world is more likely to see it as a strategic retreat short of achieving his war aims. To reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Mr. Trump is accepting Iran’s promises merely to negotiate over its nuclear program.

Most of the press has been hostile from the start, but we’ve supported the President’s Iran policy. We’ve done so because a nuclear Iran would be an existential threat, and because we want Presidents to succeed when they go to war.

Trump’s Iran Deal: Billions Up Front for Leading State Sponsor of Terrorism

 https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/trumps-iran-deal-billions-up-front-for-leading-state-sponsor-of-terrorism/

Not surprisingly, the Trump administration is still not publicizing its memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the jihadist Iranian regime.

It is laughable, of course, to speak of an agreement (or “understanding”) with Iran, which has a long, undeniable history of breaking agreements, in particular about its nuclear weapons ambitions. And while President Trump either doesn’t grasp or can’t be bothered to address the regime’s ideology, a core principle of sharia supremacism, including Iran’s Shiite version, is that lying to the enemy is a key part of warfare (“War is deception,” said Islam’s prophet in an oft-quoted hadith). This, for example, is why — even as the overwhelming evidence shows it was advancing its nuclear weapons program — the regime insisted that its leader, the now-departed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had issued a fatwa (a sharia law edict) against nuclear weapons. This would have been hilarious had not the Obama administration adopted it as part of its rationalization for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Since the administration is trying to dizzy us with spin about the MOU rather than just showing us the MOU, it’s important to understand: There is not an agreement. The MOU is an agreement to talk about an eventual agreement (and talk, and talk, and talk, as the Iranians have mastered doing) rather than to make binding commitments on matters of vital American interest.

‘Trump has surrendered to Iran’: Some prominent GOP hawks fear Trump just caved

 https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/15/politics/trump-republicans-iran

The editors of the conservative National Review were also curious why the details hadn’t been forthcoming.

They called it “discouraging” that Trump had indicated Iran would still be allowed to enrich uranium for non-military uses. And they criticized early indicators that the agreement would not rein in Iran’s ballistic missile program.

“All told, there is the possibility that Trump would return the U.S. to Obama’s failed Iran deal that Trump rightfully tore up in his first term,” the editors wrote, “which would have all the makings of a humiliation after all of the president’s tough talk.”

Israel cannot applaud an Iran deal that leaves key threats intact - editorial

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-899520

For Israel, the success of any US-Iran deal will be measured not by headlines or market reactions, but by whether Tehran’s ability to threaten its neighbors is reduced.

The reported US-Iran deal may be good for oil markets, for a White House that wants the war over, and for a president eager to say he forced Tehran to the table and reopened the Strait of Hormuz.

For Israel, that is not the test.

The test is whether Iran is weaker today than it was before the deal. Has its nuclear program been dismantled? Has its enriched uranium been removed? Have its missiles and drones been addressed? Has Hezbollah been pushed back? Has Israel’s freedom to act been preserved?

So far, the answers are unclear. That should worry us.

The warning is coming from President Donald Trump’s own side: Iran hawks, pro-Israel conservatives, and lawmakers who backed pressure on Tehran, supported the airstrikes, and believed this campaign could finally change the balance against the Islamic Republic.

Is Trump Pitching the Art of a Bad Deal

 https://collive.com/is-trump-pitching-the-art-of-a-bad-deal/

Israel has greeted the news with deep skepticism and more than a touch of fear. The reported memorandum makes zero mention of ballistic missile restrictions. What began largely as a defensive shield for Iran’s nuclear ambitions has mutated into a formidable threat in its own right. Even without the ultimate deterrent of a nuclear warhead, an Iranian ballistic arsenal numbering in the tens of thousands is more than sufficient to paralyze any military action against the Islamic Republic. According to Channel 12, this critical issue—whether through an immediate American concession or a simple lack of interest—never even made it to the negotiating table.

This is precisely where the $25 billion in unfrozen assets reported by The New York Times becomes the deal’s most critical variable. It acts as a vital liquidity bridge, allowing the Islamic Republic to safely span the economic chasm it is currently teetering over. That massive cash injection provides exactly what Tehran needs: a way to keep its domestic security apparatus paid and loyal while illicit oil flows to China stabilize. In a very literal sense, that $25 billion could spell the difference between collapse and survival.

The most concerning element, however, pertains to the war in Lebanon. Leaks regarding the current agreement point to a halt in fighting across all fronts, including with Hezbollah. Since April 8, Israel’s primary goal has been to decouple Lebanon from the broader Iranian conflict. They temporarily achieved a separation in the immediate aftermath of the ceasefire, until Iranian pressure successfully convinced the United States that larger geopolitical considerations were at stake.

ZOA: Trump’s Iran deal gives Tehran time to rearm

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/428678

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) on Monday expressed concern over the emerging deal between the US and Iran.

In a statement, ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said the organization remains "extremely grateful to President Trump for all he did, far more than any other US president, to degrade Iran’s nuclear facilities and military capabilities in Operations Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury."

However, Klein warned that the reported agreement "appears to be an 'agreement to negotiate,'" which he said would allow the Iranian regime to obtain "massive oil revenue and time to build up its military and terror arsenals," while leaving its nuclear and missile stockpiles intact.

Referring to President Trump's statement on Truth Social that he was "authoriz[ing] the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade," Klein argued that it "makes no sense" to remove economic pressure on Iran without first securing "immediate removal of Iran’s nuclear stockpile, decommissioning of Iran’s nuclear facilities, and destruction of Iran’s deadly missile stockpile."

"President Trump’s demands on Israel to stand down in Lebanon and in Iran, to facilitate this troubling deal... plays right into the Iranian regime’s hands, undermines necessary deterrence and endangers Israel’s safety," Klein stated