One Cheer For Trump’s Iran Deal

BusinessAerospace & DefenseOne Cheer For Trump’s Iran DealByIlan Berman,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Ilan Berman writes about the Middle East and Eurasia.Follow AuthorJun 17, 2026, 12:30pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.The new U.S.-Iranian memorandum of understanding is a diplomatic victory for the Iranian regime - and a problem for America's Mideast posture.AFP via Getty ImagesBack in January of 2020, on the heels of his first term decision to eliminate Qassem Soleimani, the notorious head of Iran’s Qods Force paramilitary, President Trump famously tweeted that “Iran never won a war, but never lost a negotiation!” Those words have now come back to haunt him. The terms of the new Memorandum of Understanding agreed to between Washington and Tehran over the weekend have now been made public, and the agreement as currently formulated is more lopsided and less favorable than even the skeptics had initially predicted. The shortcomings include: NO PLANS FOR COMPLIANCE. The new U.S.-Iranian MoU outlines no verification mechanisms, contenting itself with codifying a vague promise by the Iranian regime “that it will never produce nuclear weapons.” (Article 8) Iranian officials have reiterated that pledge for years, but the evidence to the contrary is extensive – and includes, most spectacularly, the daring 2018 Israeli heist of 100,000 documents detailing Iran’s extensive covert atomic weapons plans between 1999 and 2015. How, then, does the Trump administration plan to account for Iran’s persistent will to nuclear power? The MoU doesn’t say, although the nuclear agreement to be negotiated next by the two sides presumably will. EXTENSIVE ECONOMIC RELIEF. Back in 2015, when President Obama negotiated with the Islamic Republic, a major criticism of the resulting nuclear deal (known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) w...