Washington, May 25: US President Donald Trump’s peace deal with Iran has run afoul of fellow Republicans who have voiced deep concerns over the move, contending that it would amount to recognising Tehran as a “dominant force” that required a “diplomatic solution”.
The Republican sceptics included Senator Roger Wicker, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senators Thom Tillis, Lindsey Graham, and Ted Cruz, who all questioned trusting Iran to stick to its commitments to the peace deal to end the nearly three-month war.
Surprisingly, Trump critic Senator Rand Paul counselled patience and urged critics to give the President space to find an America First solution.
Democrat senators also joined the critics of the peace deal, claiming that the president was “being played as a fool” and the emerging framework would merely amount to returning to the “pre-war status quo”.
Trump hit back at the critics, describing them as losers who were commenting on an issue they knew nothing about. He claimed that the deal under discussion was the exact opposite of the one agreed to under the leadership of then-President Barack Obama in 2015.
“If I make a deal with Iran, it will be a good and proper one, not like the one made by Obama, which gave Iran massive amounts of CASH, and a clear and open path to a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday.
“Our deal is the exact opposite, but nobody has seen it, or knows what it is. It isn’t even fully negotiated yet. So don’t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about,” Trump said.
Senator Cruz said he was “deeply concerned” about the prospective deal. He said any outcome in which Iran retained control of the Strait of Hormuz and the ability to enrich uranium will be “a disastrous mistake.”
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served during the first Trump administration, too said the deal under discussion was much on the lines of the one negotiated during the Obama administration.
Trump’s close adviser Steven Cheung hit out at Pompeo for his criticism of the peace deal, saying that Pompeo had no idea what he was talking about.
Senator Lindsey Graham, who is close to Trump, said that any deal that is perceived to allow Iran to survive and possess the ability to control the Strait in the future will put Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Shia militias in Iraq on steroids.
Iran talks progressing nicely: Trump
Trump on Monday said negotiations with Iran to end the war were progressing “nicely”, but officials pointed out that a final decision may take some time due to the complex communication networks Tehran deploys to consult with its supreme leader.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump also said that countries involved in the peace talks with Iran should sign on to the Abraham Accords, which deal with establishing diplomatic, economic and security ties between Israel and Arab nations.
He said it would be an honour to have Iran as a signatory to the Accords.
“…after all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these Countries, at a minimum, simultaneously, sign onto the Abraham Accords,” Trump said, adding that it may be accepted if one or two have a reason for not doing so.
Among the negotiators, the UAE and Bahrain are already members of the Accords, and Trump expects Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt and Jordan to sign up.
According to US officials, Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is operating from an undisclosed location with little access to the outside world and is only reached by a labyrinth of couriers.
When the US sends proposed details, it takes time for officials in Tehran to reach the supreme leader, delaying a possible response.
A senior administration official on Sunday said the supreme leader had agreed to the contours of the current draft agreement, and Trump posted on Truth Social that he anticipated final word in the next few days.
US media reports said most Iranian leaders don’t see daylight, spending weeks inside highly fortified bunkers and avoiding speaking to each other unless necessary. By design, even officials at the highest levels of the Iranian government don’t know where Khamenei is and have no way to contact him directly. Instead, messages are passed through a network of couriers created to obscure the supreme leader’s location. (PTI)
