https://apnews.com/article/mou-transcript-iran-us-war-8576fbe2be1309977e903463fbf57ee6The link above is a straight transcript of the MoU. Below are my thoughts based on my understanding of what I just read. While there is heavy sarcasm below, please do correct me if I'm misunderstanding anything. I am very interested in understanding how this war is settled.
1. Termination of hostilities... which includes Lebanon... but Israel isn't signing the MoU? This seems... flawed, especially since Israel is saying they are fighting Hamas.
4. Part of the agreement is to remove US forces "from the proximity of Iran". We have 16 military bases/locations along the border of Iran and on the shores of the Persian Gulf.
5. I don't see the same type of strict deadlines for resuming of commercial traffic past Hormuz as there is in paragraph 4. Also, passage of commercial traffic at no charge is only for 60, which I assume overlaps with a ramping up period as the strait still has to be demined. This paragraph also leaves open the possibility of fees being instated after the initial 60-day period. This has been left open enough to really turn around and bite us hard.
6. I can't wait to see how Trump is going to spin giving Iran $300B (on top of paragraphs 7, 10, and 11) for reconstruction. Maybe this is a standard arrangement that's given to the country that got bombed by the aggressors, but paying the regime you said you'd dismantle $300B to rebuild their infrastructure is gonna sting DJT's ego. Bet he's not gonna sign that check with his comically large signature and one of those stupid sharpies.
Also... "regional partners"? So who else is getting in on paying this bill? Israel? The Saudis?
7. Termination of all sanctions. This seems reasonable and is WAY more valuable chip to them than it is to us.
8. "... Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons". BAHAHAHAHA! So after all that, all we got on the main issue (Iran's nuclear program) was to get back to what Obama negotiated back in 2016. I realize this issue is the main point of the ongoing negotiations, but the fact we huffed and puffed and this is all we have to show for it does not bode well. Honestly, I can see this being the symbolic turning point of America losing it's top spot among the world powers.
11. So the thing that Obama got all that flack for (paying Iran in the form of unfreezing financial assets), we are going to do again. That's a tough look for this admin... and that's on top of signing a big fat check to repay for all the stuff we blew up. Is this the reason we laid off all those federal workers and slashed the federal budget for public education? So we could drop a gajillion dollars worth of bombs that now we have to replenish and then pay Iran for the inconvenience. Wow...
Are we trying to make Russia feel better about how they're doing in Ukraine? "Don't worry, Putin... it happens to the best of us".
