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Republicans don’t take kindly to President Donald Trump’s deal with Iran.
Although Congress has yet to receive the actual memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by Trump and Iranian officials, lawmakers have seen reports circulating in the media.
And one of the top Republicans in the Senate warned that while he supported the original goals of the war, he feared that the current deal would undermine those same goals.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., blasted the MOU in a statement Thursday, warning that the agreement “negotiates the victory of Operation Epic Fury in ways that are completely inconsistent with the president’s goals.”
TRUMP’S IRAN DEAL ‘GIVES MORE TO GET LESS’ THAN OBAMA’S, SAYS CENTA
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., speaks to the media in Washington, DC, on Jan. 11, 2024. (Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)
“Specifically, the $300 billion reconstruction and economic development fund for Iran — although not funded by American taxpayers — will make Iran’s payments under President Obama’s 2015 deal look paltry by comparison,” Wicker said.
The proposed $300 billion fund has given Republicans heartburn as details have emerged in recent days, with some comparing it to the billions that flowed into Iran under former President Joe Biden.
The agreement stipulates that the US will work with regional partners to develop the fund, which will be finalized as part of the 60-day agreement.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION REFUSES SEVERAL TERMS OF PROPOSED IRAN DEAL
Wicker also tackled lifting sanctions on Iran and forcing Israel to break with Hezbollah, “an Iranian-backed terrorist organization that continues to attack Israel on its northern border.”
“The Iranian regime has not given up on its ultimate goal – ‘Death to America, Death to Israel,'” Wicker said. “The state will invest all the money it receives to achieve that goal.”
“President Trump has aggressively pursued peace,” he continued. “I hope that the negotiators working on this agreement do not underestimate that goal.”
Wicker is not alone in his fear that Iran will turn around and use the funds for nefarious endeavors.
REPUBLICANS DOWNLOAD TRUMP’S WAR AUTHORITY REQUEST AS PEACE NEAR
Sen. Ted Cruz speaks as Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington on Jan. 30, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, warned that “giving billions of dollars to crazy theocracies who want to kill us is a very bad idea.”
“And I think, unfortunately, the president is getting very bad advice on this deal,” Cruz told reporters.
Cruz compared the fund to the billions sent to Iran under the Biden administration, which he charged was “the most disastrous foreign policy decision” made during the previous administration, and “global terrorism financing in the truest sense.”
“If we give Iran billions of dollars, that money will be used to kill Americans,” he said. “And so I don’t believe we should do that. And the idea that we’re going to have a successful Marshall Plan for Iran and go in and rebuild Iran after it’s been a leading state sponsor of terrorism for 47 years — they’ve killed almost a thousand Americans — I don’t think that makes sense.”
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Vice President JD Vance, who has become the public face of the deal, defended the fund during a press conference at the White House on Thursday, arguing that the only way Iran could get that funding, which he vowed would not come from taxpayers, “is if they completely comply and change their behavior.”
“So you really have a winning situation in the United States of America,” Vance said.
