Trump confident of Iran deal at G7 Summit, but CIA and others have their doubts

The Trump administration remains doubtful of Iranian intentions towards the peace agreement, Axios reported. CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Trump and other senior officials of the administration about the doubts about Iran’s willingness to stick to the nuclear concessions sought by the US.

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Along with Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have also raised their concerns regarding the 14-point memorandum of understanding.

“The intelligence reflects that the Iranian intentions are not in line with their commitments under the deal,” Axios said, citing a source familiar with the matter.

However, the report added that Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are confident and advocated for the deal.

Along with this, scepticism around the deal also reached Capitol Hill.

“I think that my understanding of what it entails — and, again, not having seen anything — it would require, I think the issues are going to be compliance, and how are you going to enforce that,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters.

Meanwhile, Senator John Kennedy told Associated Press that he is hopeful but “until you see the final document, it’s hard to make an assessment.”

Senator Lindsey Graham, who is also considered a close aide of Donald Trump, also appeared sceptical of the deal, stating that when Iran describes the agreement, it seems like a major loss for the US.

“The way Iran describes it, it’s awful. The way we describe it, it makes sense to me. Let’s look at it and see what it actually is,” Graham told reporters.

Democrats, on the other hand, questioned Trump’s critique of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was signed in 2015 under the Obama administration.

“For all his critique of JCPOA, we had international observers, we actually had an alliance there that included the Europeans, and Russia and China were all signatories,” Virginia Senator Mark Warner told CBS’ Face the Nation.

Highlighting the confusion around the deal regarding the release of frozen assets, sanctions relief and the Lebanon conflict, Senator Elizabeth Warren told reporters that the news of the deal “has more questions than answers.”

Also Read | Confusion over Lebanon truce, Iranian frozen assets emerge as US-Iran reach deal

While the details of the agreement are yet to be made public, several US and Iranian news agencies have stated that the deal will pave the way for a 60-day ceasefire in the Gulf, along with fresh negotiations focused on Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

While Tehran has stated that it has no intention of buying and making a nuclear weapon, the US has flagged concerns over its uranium enrichment programme, stating that the enriched uranium must be diluted, disposed or handed over to the US in accordance with the protocols issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The same was confirmed by VP JD Vance during an interview with NBC News.

“One of the core parts of the agreement is that the IAEA and the United States are going to help Iran destroy the highly enriched stockpile, and that’s something that’s spelled out very clearly in the MOU,” said the US vice president.

During this negotiation, if the US and Iran reach a full and final deal, Washington will withdraw its military forces mobilised in the region for the war and end all sanctions against Iran in a phased manner.

As per Pakistan, the key mediator between the US and Iran, the deal will be signed in Switzerland by both nations. On the same day, as soon as the deal is signed, Trump added that the Strait of Hormuz will officially reopen for business, without any tolls.