GOP Senate Armed Services chair comes out against Iran deal

Defense GOP Senate Armed Services chair comes out against Iran deal Comments: by Filip Timotija - 06/18/26 1:36 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Filip Timotija - 06/18/26 1:36 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the chair of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday he was “concerned” the U.S.-negotiated memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz “negotiates away the victories of Operation Epic Fury in ways that are completely out of step with the President’s goals.”

“Specifically, the $300 billion fund for the reconstruction and economic development of Iran – though not funded by U.S. taxpayers – would make Iran’s payoff under President Obama’s 2015 deal look like a pittance by comparison,” Wicker said in a statement.

The Mississippi lawmaker joins other GOP senators offering pushback against the deal with Iran. They have criticized provisions in the deal that would immediately lift sanctions on Iranian oil exports and could lead to unfreezing of Tehran’s assets worldwide.

The MOU would allow Iran to get $300 billion in funds, if the country honors the agreement, to rebuild. In exchange, Tehran has agreed not to build nuclear weapons and hand over its enriched uranium, but those details will be negotiated during the next phase of talks.

Wicker, who last month expressed opposition to the 60-day ceasefire with Iran, said it would be an “error” to “force” Israel to stand down against Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed proxy in Lebanon that is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

Wicker also said he opposes the U.S. lifting any sanctions on Iran or unfreezing Tehran’s funds in “exchange for Iran’s mere agreement to negotiate for another 60 days.”

“The Iranian regime has not renounced its ultimate goal — ‘Death to America, Death to Israel.’ The regime will invest every penny it receives to further that aim,” Wicker said. “President Trump has pursued peace through strength. I hope the intermediaries working on this deal are not undermining that objective.”

When asked about the criticism of the deal coming within the Republican conference, Vice President Vance, who has been leading the U.S. negotiations with Tehran, said the critics should have some “faith” in the president, as the idea that he would reach a “bad” deal for the American people is “preposterous.”

“He is the person who has had the courage to fundamentally transform our relationship with Iran and with a lot of other countries over the last year and a half; he believes in this deal; he is going to see it to completion, and if the Iranians don’t comply, we still have every single tool and point of leverage that we have today,” Vance said during a press briefing at the White House.

The vice president then argued that many comments and assessments of the MOU are “just fundamentally untrue.”

“It’s about conduct; it’s about rewarding good conduct and punishing bad conduct, which in some ways is what we’ve been doing for the last three months vis-a-vis that country anyway,” Vance said.

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