{"id":2560,"date":"2026-06-20T21:40:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T21:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2560"},"modified":"2026-06-20T21:40:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T21:40:51","slug":"the-iranian-mou-could-hold-the-peace-but-it-doesnt-solve-all-the-longterm-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2560","title":{"rendered":"The Iranian MOU could hold the peace \u2014\u00a0but it doesn’t solve all the longterm issues"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cVersailles is the real deal,\u201d said President Trump when his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron invited him to dinner at the royal palace during this month\u2019s G-7 conference. G-7 leaders praised the US\u2019 latest agreement with Iran as a \u201cbreakthrough,\u201d but if anyone thinks the Trump-touted \u201cdeal\u201d Vice President Vance negotiated with Iran is \u201creal,\u201d they should have another thing coming \u2014 a massive attack.<\/p>\n

Read more Although he\u2019s no longer alive, my dad\u2019s lessons still inspire me this Father\u2019s Day<\/a><\/p>\n

Vance spent last week defending the deal, which isn\u2019t even a deal but a \u201cmemorandum of understanding.\u201d Typically, \u201cMOUs\u201d are \u201cgood faith\u201d documents issued to express non-binding notions of future relationships. Upon the signing of this MOU\u2019s official text ahead of schedule on Wednesday, US officials reportedly said it was a \u201cpolitical document\u201d that failed to account for undisclosed backchannel discussions. Even Vance admitted its terms are \u201cvery general.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a generous assessment since many of them are worryingly vague. The Strait of Hormuz, for example, is to be opened, but only for 60 days, after which the Iranians can engage in \u201cdialogue\u201d with other Gulf states to \u201cdefine the future administration and maritime services\u201d international law nominally prohibits. Iran has suggested this could include resuming its illegal toll regime.<\/p>\n

The US will fully unfreeze Iran\u2019s foreign assets, but on terms to be negotiated later and with no enforcement mechanism to ensure Iran doesn\u2019t spend the funds on its depleted military. Iranian oil can flow under US waivers, though existing sanctions will remain in place, also pending later negotiation.<\/p>\n

The Iranians will theoretically benefit from \u201cat least $300 billion\u201d in \u201creconstruction and economic development\u201d for which the US will facilitate \u201cfinancial transactions.\u201d The MOU is mum on where those funds will come from, though Vance has promised no taxpayer cash will go to Tehran. That could be true. Or not.<\/p>\n

American warships will stop blockading Iran\u2019s ports but not withdraw from the region until after a final agreement is reached. War Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that the ships will linger offshore and could return to blockade duty at a moment\u2019s notice.<\/p>\n

The MOU includes Lebanon, from which Iran has said it expects Israel to withdraw, possibly, its leaders have suggested, under American compulsion. The Israelis have said they\u2019re not a party to the agreement and will act in self-defense. As they continued to exchange fire with Hezbollah last week, some Israeli hardliners said they are prepared to continue the war on their own.<\/p>\n

The MOU creates a new 60-day cease-fire window, which can be extended by mutual agreement for an apparently unlimited time, to discuss the intractable issue at the heart of the US-Iranian conflict: whether or not Iran will become a nuclear power.<\/p>\n

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The MOU says Iran \u201creaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons\u201d and maintain its general nuclear program\u2019s \u201cstatus quo.\u201d We\u2019ve heard that one before. The mullahs hiding deep underground are the same fanatics who have wanted the bomb for more than 40 years and just killed 40,000 of their own people to stay in power. In any case, the MOU unpromisingly relegates resolution of all relevant nuclear issues to further negotiation.<\/p>\n

Assuming all this succeeds, the MOU provides that the final deal will be enforced by a \u201cbinding resolution\u201d . . . of the UN Security Council. Home of the brave, indeed. <\/p>\n

We can continue negotiations until we are blue in the face, but there is no guarantee that Iran\u2019s leaders, who survived decades of isolation and the massive air war earlier this year, will ever give up their nukes. Even if they do sign a deal \u201cguaranteed\u201d by some toothless UN resolution, their regime has a long history of pocketing any concessions and then renegotiating terms at the last minute, or just ignoring them on the sly, as with Obama\u2019s failed nuclear deal of 2015. <\/p>\n

With tough midterms looming less than five months from now and the prospect of what Trump on Wednesday called \u201ceconomic catastrophe,\u201d the mullahs have every reason just to wait him out.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Iran poses an existential threat. Even after the MOU\u2019s terms were agreed on, into this weekend Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire \u2014\u00a0prompting Iran to threaten to call off the whole deal, suspend the negotiations before they even began and, on Saturday, to announce that they had closed the Strait of Hormuz again after less than 72 hours of traffic going through.<\/p>\n

Nobody knows, moreover, how long it will take the Iranians to get at the near-weapons grade enriched uranium under the rubble of their nuclear facilities. <\/p>\n

But the longer diplomacy drags on, the more time they will have to do that and, potentially, emerge fully nuclearized. That\u2019s not a chance we should take, especially when we have the military muscle for the massive attack Trump has repeatedly promised if the mullahs don\u2019t play ball. When they say, \u201cDeath to America,\u201d I believe them. And so should you.<\/p>\n

Read more American Olympic canoeist arrested for allegedly vandalizing Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool<\/a><\/p>\n

Paul du Quenoy is president of the Palm Beach Freedom Institute.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sooner or later, there will be a reckoning over Iran’s future. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Iranian MOU could hold the peace \u2014\u00a0but it doesn't solve all the longterm issues - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2560\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Iranian MOU could hold the peace \u2014\u00a0but it doesn't solve all the longterm issues - Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sooner or later, there will be a reckoning over Iran's future.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2560\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-20T21:40:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2560#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2560\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\"},\"headline\":\"The Iranian MOU could hold the peace \u2014\u00a0but it doesn’t solve all the longterm issues\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-20T21:40:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2560\"},\"wordCount\":883,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2560#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/eedc1c6f7006a25ac259cf5f9457bbdd.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2560#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2560\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2560\",\"name\":\"The Iranian MOU could hold the peace \u2014\u00a0but it doesn't solve all the longterm issues - 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