About a month ago, President Donald Trump promised he was far from “anxious” to end the Iran war. “I have all the time in the World,” Trump maintained on social media, “but Iran doesn’t — The clock is ticking!” It was a dubious assertion, to say the least. Trump has appeared remarkably reluctant to restart military clashes with Iran, blowing past a series of his own deadlines despite Tehran not complying with his demands. And the political pressure is clearly building on him to find a way out, with the 2026 midterms approaching and the war — and its economic impacts — looking like a growing albatross for Republican candidates. It took a while, but the GOP’s Iran hawks now appear worried that Trump is indeed too anxious to end the war — and is about to cave. A procession of them has spoken out over the last two days as we’ve gotten what appear to be the first genuine glimpses of a deal to gradually end the war. While much remains to be ironed out — and some details are in dispute — recent versions of a memorandum of understanding would end hostilities while gradually reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending the US blockade in the area. The deal would include the unfreezing of some Iranian assets, and Tehran would also be allowed to resume selling fuel and oil. The proposed agreement also includes a commitment by Iran to not pursue a nuclear weapon and to begin negotiations over giving up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. But the specifics that have leaked come up far short of what Trump initially set out for. He at one point said he would accept only “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.” And the administration’s shifting list of four goals has sometimes included completely ending Iran’s support for proxy groups in the Middle East and its nuclear program. The hawks seem worried Trump is about to settle for far less than that. They appear increasingly worried he’s going to take assurances from Iran that aren’t worth much, that he’s allowing Tehran to use the strait as leverage in perpetuity, and that he’s abandoning a historic opportunity to truly end the Iranian threat. Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker attends a hearing on Capitol Hill on May 13. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP It began Friday, with an extraordinary statement from Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi. Wicker said Trump was “being ill-advised to pursue a deal that would not be worth the paper it is written on.” (Republicans often treat what they view as bad ideas Trump is pursuing as the work of advisers, rather than the president himself.) Wicker also said that cutting a deal — rather than resuming military action — “risks a perception of weakness.” We’d seen some stirrings of discomfort with Trump’s continued emphasis on negotiation from the likes of Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and others who had been influential supporters of the war, but Wicker crystallized it. And by Saturday, with news breaking that a deal could be afoot, the panic broke out into the open. Graham said that allowing the precedent that Iran could control the Strait of Hormuz and threaten its neighbors’ oil infrastructure would be “a major shift of the balance of power in the region and over time will be a nightmare for Israel.” He also said worried that such a deal would empower Iran’s proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas to terrorize the region. Wicker said the proposed deal would mean that “everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught!” Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said he was “deeply concerned” about what he was hearing and that he “prayed” reports were wrong. “If the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime — still run by Islamists who chant ‘death to America’ — now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium & develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake,” Cruz said. Commentators like Fox News’ Mark Levin were also uneasy, with Levin responding to an Israeli report that Trump officials are anxious to cut a deal by saying, “Houston, I think there may be a problem.” Even some key administration officials from Trump’s first term got in on the act. Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton said Sunday it appeared “the ayatollahs will have won a significant victory.” Fellow former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who is more of a MAGA adherent, pleaded with Trump on Sunday not to believe Iran. He said that “the regime has blatantly lied to our faces before, why do you now believe they will tell you the truth?” And former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ripped into the reported contours of the deal, saying it sounded like one that would have been negotiated by the Obama administration officials who forged the Iran nuclear deal that Trump ripped up in his first term. Pompeo said it amounted to: “Pay the IRGC to build a [weapons of mass destruction] program and terrorize the world.” “Not remotely America First,” Pompeo added. Vehicles drive past portraits of Iran’s late and new supreme leaders, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in downtown Tehran on May 22. Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty Images The situation has become troublesome enough that Trump advisers are now lashing out at the critics. White House spokesman Steven Cheung told Pompeo that he had “no idea what the f**k he’s talking about” and that he should “shut his stupid mouth and leave the real work to the professionals.” And Trump political adviser Alex Bruesewitz told Cruz, “No one asked you, bro. Stop trying to undermine the President and his administration.” (Cruz shot back that “young political grifters pushing Iran appeasement are not remotely helping the President.”) Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is in India, offered a less confrontational version of the same talking point, saying Trump’s commitment to stopping a nuclear Iran “shouldn’t be questioned by anybody.” Rubio called it “absurd” to think Trump’s deal might leave Iran in a stronger position. Trump pushed back against criticism of the potential deal Sunday, writing on Truth Social, “Don’t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about.” But it’s abundantly clear that Trump and his negotiators are in a bad spot. They talked about how this war would last around a month, and we’re coming up on three. What’s more, Iran hasn’t demonstrated it’s swayed by Trump’s repeated threats and bluffs. That has effectively left Trump to either resume striking militarily (which he clearly doesn’t want to do) or to turn this into a war of attrition, where we see who blinks in the face of economic pain caused by the dual gambits in the Strait of Hormuz. But getting out of this war isn’t easy, either. While Trump’s base has proved malleable over the years — often going along with whatever he decides — this is the kind of issue that really matters to a significant chunk of his supporters. Trump began the war by alienating one part of his party — the anti-interventionist wing. But now he’s risking alienating the other side — the foreign policy hawks who thought they suddenly had a committed ally in the White House. These Iran-hawk Trump allies see this as a real opportunity to end the threat in the region — an opportunity that might not come along again any time soon. They have a vested interest in making sure Trump doesn’t lose his nerve. And they seem to really fear he is. This story has been updated with additional information. The post Republican hawks seem to fear a Trump cut and run from Iran appeared first on Egypt Independent.
