In response to media reports on the details of a near-final 60-day U.S.-Iran MOU, JINSA President and CEO @MichaelMakovsky encourages President Trump to reject it and issued the following statement:
If the reported details of a proposed U.S.-Iran MOU are broadly accurate, it would represent a loss of American nerve and damaging strategic reversal in recent American policy, abandoning many of President Trump’s prior redlines, undercutting many of the tremendous achievements of the military campaign, and undermining U.S. credibility.
I hope President Trump recognizes the enormous dangers posed by this reported MOU and rejects this disastrous arrangement. He should reverse course and restore American credibility by resuming military action that further weakens Iran’s conventional military and nuclear capabilities, ensuring the freedom of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz, maintains economic pressure on the Tehran regime, and supporting Iranians seeking to bring about the regime’s collapse, which is the ultimate strategic prize for the United States.
The U.S.-Israeli military campaign made major advances in curbing Iran’s ability to project power and weakening the regime, for which both countries’ militaries and political leaders are to be commended. However, rather than degrading Iran further, this deal would strengthen and enrich it, thereby prolonging its survival.
Comparisons to President Barack Obama’s 2015 JCPOA would be immediate and deserved. The United States would again be financially rewarding the Tehran regime to negotiate on its nuclear program while not addressing Iran’s missile capabilities or its aggressive regional activities.
In some respects, this agreement is worse than the JCPOA, since the United States would be relinquishing leverage accumulated through 38 days of direct military confrontation, strategic isolation, maritime pressure, and visible deterioration of Iran’s internal and regional position.
If Iran would not agree to acceptable American terms on its nuclear program during a ceasefire — while facing a blockade, economic strangulation, internal instability, and the credible prospect of renewed severe U.S.-Israeli military operations — there is no serious reason to believe lifting that pressure will produce a better outcome.
Without the complete, permanent, and verifiable dismantlement of Iran’s entire nuclear program, the regime’s pathway back to nuclear weapons capability is preserved and will restart, no later than after President Trump leaves office.
The Iranian regime and its supporters will rightly see this agreement as a victory over the United States, emerging not only intact but with new life thanks to the unfreezing of assets, the resumption of significant oil sales (mostly to China), and effective control over the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump would also be abandoning the Iranian population, with whom he has repeatedly expressed solidarity and support, by rescuing this brutal and corrupt regime from collapse.
It betrays Israel, our full-fledged partner in the war, which reportedly opposes this deal and was given little say in it. Israel will undoubtedly need to conduct another military action against Iran at some point to undo the damage from this deal. Israel also cannot be expected to adhere to any Iranian veto over Lebanon, and will be compelled to maintain its military action against Iran’s terrorist proxy Hezbollah that continues to threaten Israel’s northern towns.
The MOU also leaves exposed our Gulf Arab allies to an emboldened Iran as America retreats from the region.
The lesson for the rest of the world will be that America can be coerced through brinkmanship, defiance, and threats to maritime commerce and energy markets. China will take note and is a clear winner, and Taiwan a loser.
There should be no memorandum of understanding, interim deal, or partial arrangement with the Tehran regime, as it will not be worth the paper it is written on.
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Exclusive sit-down with Admiral Bob Harward after the @FoxNews mask controversy - thanks for being a great sport Bob! Turns out Bob is a Frogman - NOT a Lizard Person. 😂😂😂 @shieldaitech
JINSA's VADM "Fozzie" Miller, USN (ret) asked by @HARRISFAULKNER about 🇺🇸strategy on renewed military ops:
"What I would expect though is immediate pressure on their leadership..." decapitation strikes; target command & control; hit Iran's 🇮🇷 assets along the Strait of Hormuz.
JINSA's Gen Chuck Wald, USAF (ret) tells @johnrobertsFox, “We should go back in” and end the Iranian threat.
3⃣ things the U.S. needs to address:
⚔️Iran’s military capacity to threaten GCC countries & Israel
🚢Opening the Strait of Hormuz
☢️ 🇮🇷 nuclear program
Today’s update on Operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion.
Trump will convene his national security team to discuss military options on Iran—as Tehran resumes attacks across the Gulf and moves to tighten control over Hormuz.
Key developments 🧵
https://t.co/iMLI0zPfkb
The White House says Xi told Trump that 🇨🇳 supports keeping the Strait of Hormuz open, opposes Iranian coercion in the Gulf, and agrees Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.
Now Beijing must prove it.
@RenaGabber & @Jonah_Brody show how China sustains Iran’s war machine 🧵
There was no genocide. There was no famine. And there are no rape dogs. But on October 7, 2023 Hamas and other Palestinian raiders launched a war with mass rape and murder. Many filmed their atrocities. Here is a conclusive report documenting that horror. https://t.co/c6pSaFdck9
Between October 2023 and the start of Operation Epic Fury, @jinsadc data tracked 388 rockets, missiles, and drones that Iran or its proxies launched at U.S. personnel located at bases in the Middle East.
New: Sen. Rand Paul’s son drunkenly accosted and hurled anti-Semitic insults at Rep. Mike Lawler at a Capitol Hill bar on Tuesday night.
His son told Lawler that if Rep Thomas Massie loses, it’s going to be because of “your people.”
“My people?” Lawler asked Paul.
“Yeah, you Jews,” Paul responded.
“Do you think I’m Jewish?” Lawler asked. “I’m not.”
“Oh wow, I’m so sorry for calling you a Jew,” Paul said.
He then said that Jews were “anti-American” and how Lawler and his “Jewish supporters” served Israel more than America.
https://t.co/fhn93tHA4g
The Abraham Accords 🇦🇪🤝🇮🇱 yielded tangible benefits for the UAE, when Israel sent its prized air defense system, Iron Dome, to the Emirates.
Read @AriCicurel's analysis of their growing relationship
🔗https://t.co/4UaqaRvcbJ
President Trump says the 🇺🇸🇮🇷ceasefire is on life support.
@ScottJenningsKY asks JINSA’s ⚓️VADM Robert Harward, USN (ret), “What should the President should do next?”
“I think he should shift to Epic Fury 2. Let’s crank it up!”
@TheDMVLive Heard a full clip unloaded in rapid succession. Called the police to report, then while on the phone with dispatch heard a second full clip fired.
President Trump, Iran’s regime is doing what it has done for decades: survive, stall, regroup, and rebuild.
To achieve America's objectives, a team of senior 🇺🇸generals & admirals w/ deep experience in the region say it's time to update the strategy, return to military operations, and launch Operation Epic Fury 2:
🔹Strengthen the blockade
🔹Force open the Strait of Hormuz
🔹Target Iran's missile & drone infrastructure
🔹Target the regime’s internal control
🔹Prevent Iran’ nuclear reconstitution
🧵
The blockade should be a means to put political pressure on Iran. It doesn’t matter if it runs out of funds or its oil fields collapse so long as the regime believes the people are too scared to rise up. My latest w/ @MichaelMakovsky for @TheNatlInterest
https://t.co/3b7qyfc5OQ