{"id":594,"date":"2026-06-20T09:37:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T09:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=594"},"modified":"2026-06-20T09:37:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T09:37:52","slug":"did-trump-snooker-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=594","title":{"rendered":"Did Trump Snooker Iran?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

To evaluate the Iran Memorandum of Understanding on its merits, beyond the hype, let\u2019s start by separating what we know from what we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Read more The United States: No Place Like Home<\/a><\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s military has been destroyed. It has no air force, no navy, and no air defenses.<\/p>\n

We have obliterated Iran\u2019s uranium enrichment plants, its uranium mills, and its uranium hexafluoride conversion facility, as well as the secret bomb-making workshops in Parchin that Iran would never allow the IAEA to inspect.<\/p>\n

We have destroyed most of Iran\u2019s ability to manufacture drones and ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n

We have shattered the Iranian economy.<\/p>\n

We have pitted the regime against itself, as seen in recent demonstrations organized by hard-liners against the MoU.<\/p>\n

We have also demonstrated that America has a new \u201cspecial relationship\u201d\u2014with Israel, not Britain. We have gone to war with the IDF, flying thousands of joint air missions without a single mishap, something we could arguably not do today with our NATO allies.<\/p>\n

These are facts, and they are major accomplishments of a military campaign that no previous American president has been willing to attempt.<\/p>\n

But we did not defeat the Iranian regime. That, too, is a fact\u2014one the regime reminds the U.S. of every day.<\/p>\n

Not only do they appear to be undeterred, but they enjoy taunting us, threatening to \u201cbloody\u201d our noses, and deliver a \u201charsh blow\u201d should we not keep up our commitments under the MoU.<\/p>\n

But just what are the U.S. commitments?<\/p>\n

The 14-point MoU reads like a wish list crafted in Tehran. And I suspect that is exactly what it is. (More on that below).<\/p>\n

Over the past several weeks, I have watched with disbelief as pro-regime media in Tehran released this or that version of the accord, including what appeared to be U.S. commitments to establish a $300 billion reconstruction fund and to withdraw all U.S. military forces from the region.<\/p>\n

Astonishingly, those measures do indeed figure in the 14-point MoU. Paragraph 6 says that the United States \u201cundertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least USD 300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paragraph 4 states that the United States \u201cundertakes to remove its forces from the proximity of the Islamic Republic of Iran within 30 days after the final deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are just two of the extraordinary concessions made by Trump\u2019s negotiating team to the Iranian regime. Other concessions include immediately releasing frozen Iranian assets, and the future removal of sanctions.<\/p>\n

But will all of those U.S. concessions actually occur? Listening to President Trump at his G7 press conference on Thursday suggests perhaps not.<\/p>\n

Read more Are iPhones Dialing Up the Birth Dearth?<\/a><\/p>\n

He said that if the Iranians didn\u2019t hold up their end of the agreement\u2014opening the Strait of Hormuz and surrendering their nuclear material\u2014then the U.S. would return to bombing, maybe for two weeks, maybe for two years.<\/p>\n

He also said the U.S. wasn\u2019t putting up one cent for the reconstruction fund. Any U.S. \u201ccontribution\u201d would come from Iranian money the U.S. has frozen and now has pledged to release.<\/p>\n

It all raises the question whether Trump didn\u2019t somehow snooker the Iranians.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

From the man who said the Iranians had never won a war but never lost a negotiation, did Team Trump actually get the better of the Iranians in this deal?<\/p>\n

He gave them all they could possibly want. But it\u2019s not a deal. It\u2019s an MoU.<\/p>\n

It contains only three active pieces: an end to immediate hostilities, opening the Strait, and an undefined release of frozen Iranian assets. Everything else is to be negotiated at a later date, in principle, by August 15.<\/p>\n

Those follow-on negotiations were supposed to have started in Geneva on Friday, June 19\u2014the day after Trump signed the MoU publicly at the G7 conference in Evian.<\/p>\n

But nobody came.<\/p>\n

Ever since Jimmy Carter, U.S. presidents have bet a piece of their presidency on the quixotic notion that somehow they could offer the Iranians something so enticing they would change their behavior.<\/p>\n

But I have long argued that this Iranian regime can never change the behavior we object to. It can never abandon its nuclear ambitions; it can never give up its terror proxies; it can never abandon the charter of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which is to spread the Islamic revolution around the globe, because these are core values of the regime.<\/p>\n

Give up on those core values, and the regime disintegrates.<\/p>\n

JD Vance has made clear that the goodies contained in the MoU are all \u201cperformance-based.\u201d In other words, if the Iranians don\u2019t deliver on their commitments\u2014whether it\u2019s the ceasefire itself, freedom of navigation in the Strait, or the surrender of their nuclear program\u2014then they will not receive the benefits set forth in the MoU.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what leads me to suspect that the president may actually have snookered the Iranians.<\/p>\n

When they see a U.S. president offering them $150 billion in sanctions relief, as Obama did, they take it to the bank. It\u2019s not up to further negotiation; it\u2019s a fait accompli.<\/p>\n

But with President Trump, those bets are off. They can point to all the goodies they believe they are entitled to in the 14-point MoU, but until Trump declares that they have fulfilled their commitments, they won\u2019t be getting them. Not a one.<\/p>\n

So what does the MoU achieve? It settles the oil markets, it fuels the stock market, and arguably it enhances the chances of the Republicans to win the midterm elections. If it collapses on November 5 because the Iranians didn\u2019t carry out their part of it, so be it. America will be back to war without the restraint of another election.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Ken Timmerman\u2019s 14th book of non-fiction, <\/em>The Iran House: Tales of Revolution, Persecution, War, and Intrigue, can be ordered on Amazon.<\/em>\u00a0He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 by former deputy Swedish premier Per Ahlmark for his work on Iran and is a senior fellow at the America First Policy Institute.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Tulsi Gabbard Releases Bombshell Files Alleging Fauci Helped Spark COVID Pandemic<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To evaluate the Iran Memorandum of Understanding on its merits, beyond the hype, let\u2019s start by separating what we know from what we don\u2019t. 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