For the first time, Republicans en masse are turning against Trump over his deal to end the war with Iran, accusing him of making the “worst foreign policy blunder in decades”.
“Reagan is rolling over in his grave,” said Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy, referring to the former president Trump admires.
The 14-point interim agreement that Trump has boasted about does include stopping the conflict and reopening the critical Strait of Hormuz, but also– we’re supposing this was in the fine print — financing Iran’s recovery to the tune of a $300bn fund and scrapping sanctions.
“Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” he added, after the U.S. and Iran signed the interim memorandum of understanding,’ continued the Senator.
Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under the first Trump administration, asked why Washington appeared to be offering to help rebuild Iran as part of the deal, with Trump still presenting the outcome as a victory.
“They believe they have an obligation to destroy us. Now, we plan to unlock billions of dollars and lift sanctions, with the promise of even more money,” she added.
Even the Trump-favored FOX News was appalled:
One contributor said the idea of handing Iran $300bn was “a disaster” akin to offering Germany a Marshall Plan “while the Nazis were still in power”.
Texas senator Ted Cruz echoed the thought, saying: “History teaches that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is a bad idea.”
The normally reticent Mike Pence wrote:
“I would urge the President to take a step back, continue the blockade and pursue a negotiated settlement that commits Iran to dismantling their nuclear program, dismantling this missile program, ends support for terrorist proxies and opens the strait.
“Failing that, we should let our Armed Forces finish the job on our terms,” he wrote on social media.
Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, boasted in comments to state TV that the deal had given them even more than they set out to achieve.
“Everything we sought to achieve through military action, we obtained several times over through negotiation; it was not even comparable,” he said.
