Trump insists he won ‘unconditional surrender’ from Iran

Administration Trump insists he won ‘unconditional surrender’ from Iran Comments: by Sarah Davis - 06/19/26 9:08 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Sarah Davis - 06/19/26 9:08 AM ET Comments: Link copied

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President Trump is defending the framework agreement he signed with Iran this week, which begins a negotiation period to bring the months-long war to a close.

Axios’s Marc Caputo pressed Trump in an interview on Thursday about whether the memorandum of understanding (MOU) lived up to the president’s original promise to secure an “unconditional surrender” from Iran.

“But really, probably is unconditional surrender,” Trump said of the MOU. “I think so.”

The signing of this 14-point preliminary agreement initiated a 60-day negotiation period for talks about Iran’s nuclear program and control of the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping channel that has been closed during the conflict.

During his interview with Axios, the president also touted the U.S. Navy’s blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, which cut off access to Iranian ports in the major oil trading waterway.

“We have the most powerful military in the world by far,” Trump told the outlet. “Who else could have done a blockade like that? I did a naval blockade where not one ship was able to get through. Some tried. Didn’t last very long.”

Several GOP lawmakers have raised concerns about provisions included in the MOU to lift sanctions on Iran and create a $300 billion reconstruction fund for the country.

“History teaches that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea. I think the president is receiving some very poor advice on this deal,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on Thursday.

The president doubled down on his defense of the MOU in Friday morning posts on Truth Social.

“The War has diminished Iran!” he wrote. “It doesn’t, any longer, have an Air Force, a Navy, Antiaircraft Equipment, Radar, or practically anything else, and yet the Dumocrats say that Iran is better off now than it was four months ago. Can you imagine getting away with that??? How stupid can some people be???”

In a follow-up post, Trump claimed that Tehran was “FINISHED.”

“We didn’t meet out of desperation, Iran did,” he wrote. “They are FINISHED! We’ll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not ten cents!”

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