Multiple Republican leaders have come forward, criticising U.S President Donald Trump after he signed the interim peace deal with Iran, arguing that the agreement wastes billions of dollars of taxpayer money without properly restricting Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy slammed the deal on his X account, calling the memorandum of understanding “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades”.
“Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future. Now, Iran gets to build brand-new infrastructure under this deal,” he posted.
Cassidy further added, “Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive. Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.”
Another Republican Senator, Thomas Massie from Kentucky, said the $300 billion economic assistance figure was five times more than what the Congress spends annually on roads and bridges.
Former U.S ambassador to the United Nations during Trump’s first term, Nikki Haley, also criticised the terms of the deal, posting on X, “Now, we plan to unlock billions of dollars and lift sanctions, with the promise of even more money. They will use that money the way they always do— to further their nuclear ambitions and on terrorist proxies against us. It’s a huge mistake to pay to rebuild the threat we just destroyed.”
The MoU is currently being compared to former President Barack Obama’s agreement with Iran in 2015, in which Tehran agreed to limits on its nuclear programme in return for reliefs on sanctions. Trump withdrew the deal in 2018, claiming it had “enriched the Iranian regime and enabled its malign behaviour”.
Mike Pence, who served as the Vice President during Trump’s first term, said on Wednesday that the agreement “does smack of the kind of appeasement that our administration rejected in the Obama-Iran nuclear deal”.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas disagreed with comparisons with the Obama deal but questioned the decision to provide funds to Tehran.
Cruz posted on X, “I do want to urge the president not to give up the victory; we have destroyed their military, and we should not fund the rebuild.”
