Saturday, September 26, 2026

"Trump's Iran peace plan sparks conservative backlash over '456 trillion won giveaway'"

Input
2026-06-18 10:38:30
Updated
2026-06-18 10:38:30
Donald Trump, the U.S. president, visits a conservative site at the Lincoln Memorial. Yonhap News Agency

[Financial News] Conservative voices in the United States are erupting in anger after the full text of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire memorandum of understanding was made public. Critics say the deal leaves out key demands such as dismantling Iran's nuclear facilities, removing enriched uranium and scrapping ballistic missiles, while the United States has promised sanctions relief and $300 billion, or about 456 trillion won, in reconstruction support.
According to Fox News on the 17th local time, conservative figures strongly criticized the MOU, saying it was effectively a one-sided deal in Iran's favor.
The released MOU includes a principle that Iran will abandon nuclear weapons development, but it leaves the handling of highly enriched uranium, the dismantling of nuclear facilities, limits on ballistic missiles and the disarmament of pro-Iran armed groups such as Hezbollah to final negotiations.
In return, the United States pledged a phased lifting of sanctions, permission for Iran to export oil, the unfreezing of assets and at least $300 billion in reconstruction and development assistance.
Will Chamberlain, vice president for external affairs at the conservative think tank Edmund Burke Foundation, wrote on X that "this deal is truly terrible" and argued that "Trump should scrap it now."
Mark Levin, a prominent conservative radio host, also criticized the agreement, saying, "I said from the beginning that the Iranian regime would never honor any deal." He added, "Why should the United States give up its most important bargaining chip before they even carry out their promises?"
Conservative influencer and lawyer AG Hamilton also pointed out that "Iran gets to keep its nuclear program, its ballistic missile program and its ability to support terrorist proxy forces."
The attacks from conservative figures who have broken with Trump were even sharper. Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff to the secretary of Homeland Security in Trump's first administration, said the deal could become "one of the most humiliating episodes in U.S. diplomatic history," adding that it amounts to "the United States paying hundreds of billions of dollars in exchange for what Iran had already promised."
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former congresswoman who has recently clashed openly with Trump, also claimed that "in the end, U.S. taxpayers will be forced to cover the cost of rebuilding the Iranian regime."
Mike Pence, the former vice president who competed with Trump in the Republican Party's 2024 presidential primary, compared the deal to the Obama administration's Iran nuclear agreement, the JCPOA. He said it "smells like appeasement from the Obama years" and that "an approach rejected by the Trump administration's first term has resurfaced."
Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also said that "paying to rebuild a threat we just eliminated is an enormous mistake."
According to the full text of the released MOU, Iran agreed to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for free for the next 60 days, but the management framework for the strait will be renegotiated after that. The handling of highly enriched uranium is also described only as a minimum standard of on-site dilution under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Diplomatic observers say Trump could face significant political pressure within the Republican Party if the final negotiations over the next 60 days fail to include uranium processing, ballistic missiles and Hezbollah.
[email protected] Kim Kyung-min Reporter