Trump devastated Iran, now he hits them with a ... LOVEBOMB
“Prez says Islamic regime ‘not radical,’ his deal showers mullahs with cash — and no sanctions
Despite the same Islamic regime that has chanted “death to America” still ruling Iran, President Trump yesterday said they are “rational” as he defended a deal that will waive sanctions on Tehran and allow them to profit from oil sales in exchange for a general promise not to pursue nuclear weapons.
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Tuesday praised Iran’s leadership as “very rational” and “not radicalized” people as he sold a US-Iran agreement that could enrich the regime.
Trump’s showering of compliments — even calling the Iranians “nice to deal with” — comes as details of the purported terms of the peace deal were published Tuesday afternoon by Israeli and Saudi news outlets — with Congress and US allies still left in the dark.
Major American news outlets, including The Post, could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the documents, and in a further wrinkle, Israel’s Channel 12 posted a 12-point version that differs in wording, order and substance from Al Arabiya’s 14-point edition.
‘Nice to deal with’
The reported terms of the deal would allow Iran to restart its oil business by waiving sanctions, lifting the naval blockade and freeing up to $300 billion to reconstruct Iran through investments with Gulf countries.
The White House did not clarify whether the leaked texts were accurate.
Trump pledged to release the text himself after a planned
signing ceremony with the Iranians on Friday in Switzerland.
“I will not only release it. I will probably have a press conference and read it to you word by word so that the press covers it accurately,” Trump said during a Tuesday meeting at the G7.
Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf electronically signed the memorandum of understanding on Sunday, ending the nearly four-month war, but had not released the terms as of Tuesday.
Vance will lead the US delegation to Switzerland while Trump left open the possibility of also
joining the Iranians.
“We’re dealing with people that I think are very rational people,” Trump said Tuesday. “They were nice to deal with. They were strong people, smart people. I think actually they’re smarter than the first and second group, but they’re not radicalized and they’re, you know, looking to help their country.”
Under the deal, Iran agrees not to pursue a nuclear bomb, but it leaves many major points — like what to do with the enriched uranium it has — up in the air for future talks.
In the meantime, it allows Iran to sell oil with sanction waivers, a source told The Post. The last time Iran operated sanction-free was in 1979, when the US introduced sanctions after the Iran Revolution.
American officials involved in the deal say it provides for the 60-day toll-free reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and for gradual sanctions relief and unfreezing of funds if Tehran cooperates with the disposal of its highly enriched uranium and ends support for terrorist proxies.
That 60-day time frame is included in the Channel 12 version, but the Al Arabiya version says the sides agree to reopen passage to full capacity “within 30 days.”
$300B invest fund
Both versions mention a proposed $300 billion investment fund, which US officials say Gulf Arab states will finance.
The exact wording of the agreement has stoked broad concern among Iran hawks who cheered on Trump’s military campaign to prevent the Islamic Republic from ever developing a nuclear weapon.
Skeptics fear that Trump may never reach a point in followup talks where the highly enriched uranium is destroyed.
Both reported versions say the US will temporarily lift sanctions on Iranian oil, allowing for it to be freely sold to gain needed income after months under blockade.
Both versions also say Iran will commit to further talks on the fate of the nuclear program and recommit to not develop a nuclear weapon — however, that long-standing claim was belied in the past by the prewar processing of uranium to near-weapons-grade purity.
Channel 12 described its version as an “outline.” The Al Arabiya version contains fuller sections, but also passages that seem at-odds with American claims that frozen funds will only be released in accordance with measurable progress — with the exception of “small antes” of money described Monday as a truthbuilding effort.
“The United States undertakes that, in light of the progress of negotiations towards a final agreement, frozen
or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran will be released and made fully available,” the Al Arabiya version says.
“These funds, whether held in the master account or transferred, will be used for any final beneficiary payment determined by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran and will be fully available for use.”
GOP revolt?
That wording, if enacted in the actual document, could cause a revolt among congressional Republicans fearful of a replay of President Barack Obama’s 2015 Iran nuclear deal, through which an estimated $50 billion in frozen funds were released, including airlifted pallets of cash, which did little to curb Iran’s fueling of regional conflicts or its nuclear ambitions.
Neither version clarifies the future status of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iranian officials hope to toll in conjunction with Oman — though US officials said Monday they expect to confirm the permanent toll-free status in subsequent talks and Trump has threatened to bomb Oman if it partners with Iran to impose tolls.
America’s ally in the war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, admitted Monday he hadn’t been provided with a copy of the agreement.
Vice President JD Vance’s sales pitch for the Iran deal is simply terrible — but President Trump’s may be worse. Maybe the reporting on what’s in the Memorandum of Understanding is wrong, but Team Trump keeps confirming some of the worst news. As best we can tell, the deal does nothing to achieve the aims America started the war with — but does hand Tehran a whole series of gains.
Iran gets at least a few billion in immediate funds and can start selling oil right away, with at least some other sanctions dropped as well. More, it wins unprecedented authority over the Strait of Hormuz and likely locks in Hezbollah’s dominance of Lebanon.
Recall our goals: The prez opened combat seeking to permanently end Iran’s nuclear threat, and also eliminate its missiles and other offensive capabilities, and we also hoped for regime change.
The bombing set back its nuke programs, took out a lot of missiles and missile factories and decapitated most of the regime’s top leadership. All the talks since the start of April have done nothing more — indeed, have only let new Iranian leaders rebuild and regroup, even as the populace suffers. Why will they change in 60 more days of talk?
Vance’s happy case is that the big prizes for Iran are contingent on its behavior; as he said on “Hannity”: “If they’re willing to behave like a normal country,” quit chasing nukes and funding terror, “then we are willing to actually fundamentally transform our relationship with them.” But that’s been true ever since the 1979 revolution, and the regime has never gone for it.
Trump, talking with Qatar’s ruler (!), actually claimed the regime has changed, since we killed off so many leaders and those who wound up in charge “are very rational people,” “nice to deal with,” “not radicalized.”
Huh? It’s the leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps calling the shots over there now — the goons most committed to the radical agenda. Vance, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner never talked to them, only to political fronts for the real powers.
And it’s easy to be “nice” when the negotiations are handing you win after win.
Trump’s proud that Tehran promises to stick to only peaceful nuclear programs, but it’s never stopped making that promise even as it’s never ceased doing the opposite.
“We’ve never had this level of direct communication with the Iranian leadership,” Vance bragged on “Hannity.” Again: They weren’t talking to the real leaders.
Sadder still, he claimed: “We’re seeing even people that I would have assumed are hardliners who are kind of saying, ‘Maybe it was a mistake for us to do the things that we’ve done over the last 40 years. Maybe we should turn over a new leaf in the relationship with the United States of America.’ ”
They were slaughtering 40,000 of their own civilians just months ago; suddenly they’re going to get “normal”?
No: “Hardliner vs. moderate” is just a good cop-bad cop schtick the Iranians have pulled on Westerners for decades — right along with pretending regret over the past.
It’s beyond foolish to think the Iranians have changed just because they say so.
It seems to us that Team Trump doesn’t want to use force to open the Strait, it’s panicking over oil prices and the midterms and just wants to forget its promises to help the Iranian people.
We’d love to be proven wrong, and they haven’t given away the whole store yet. Other than the cash Tehran takes in at the start, Washington can withdraw its promises as readily as the Iranians always do theirs.
Cross your fingers that the next 60 days show that Iran really has changed — or that the prez and his braintrust have come to their senses.“
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