WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill expressed on Monday a need for more information regarding the agreement between the United States and Iran announced by President Donald Trump, with some voicing skepticism and requesting details from the White House.
Agreement Details and Congressional Concerns
The agreement, announced on Sunday, aims to end the war in Iran and is set for a ceremonial signing on Friday in Geneva. It focuses on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the U.S. naval blockade in the region, alongside financial incentives for Iran contingent on meeting certain benchmarks. However, Senate Republicans and Democrats returning to Washington on Monday noted numerous unanswered questions about the deal, emphasizing the need for thorough briefings before finalization.
“I just don’t know enough about it,” stated Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to reporters in the Capitol. “Even the people who follow this stuff closely up here don’t know that much about it.” Congressional leaders and intelligence committees typically receive higher-level briefings before rank-and-file members, but Thune indicated he had not been personally briefed on the deal. He added, “I think that my understanding of what it entails — and, again, not having seen anything — it would require, I think the issues are going to be compliance, and how are you going to enforce that.”
Other GOP senators echoed Thune’s concerns. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina questioned, “If it’s a secret deal then how can I take it seriously?” Vice President JD Vance told ABC News on Monday that the White House would release the text this week, assuring that “what everybody will see is that Iran doesn’t get a dime of money unless they perform their obligations.”
Unanswered Questions on Nuclear Program
President Trump has not yet explained how the agreement will address Iran’s nuclear program, including verification responsibilities and the disposal of highly enriched uranium believed to be buried under nuclear sites damaged by U.S. strikes last summer. A memorandum of understanding also includes potential release of Iran’s frozen funds, sanctions relief, and a $300 billion fund for rebuilding Iran if Tehran meets certain benchmarks, according to senior U.S. officials. However, the document has not been released.
Thune expressed a desire to learn more about the conditions attached to the financial incentives. He suggested the deal would be favorable if the incentives are tied to Iran winding down its nuclear program and eliminating enriched uranium, “preventing them from having a nuclear capability in the future.”
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., stated he is hopeful but finds it difficult to assess the deal without seeing the final document. “I go into it very skeptical of the government of Iran,” Kennedy said. “They learn to lie before they learn to talk. So any agreement we make with them has to have guardrails. It has to have a way to judge through independent inspection if they’re doing what they say they’re doing.”
Potential Senate Vote
Under the Iran nuclear agreement review act passed during the Obama era, any U.S. deal concerning Iran’s nuclear material must be submitted to Congress for review within a certain timeframe, though it is not mandatory. President Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, known as the JCPOA, was submitted for a vote of disapproval in the Senate, which did not roll back the agreement but recorded senators’ positions.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally and longtime Iran hawk, expressed skepticism about the emerging agreement. He said he is “pulling for a deal” but stressed that Congress needs to review and vote on it, and he wants to see the memorandum agreed upon by both countries. “The way Iran describes it, it’s awful. The way we describe it, it makes sense to me,” Graham, R-S.C., said. “Let’s look at it and see what it actually is.” Graham called for Vice President Vance, whom he termed “the architect of the deal,” to present it to lawmakers.
Vance responded to Graham on Monday, cautioning in an ABC interview against believing “the hard-liner propaganda in Iran” and urging trust in the actual agreement. Despite Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, being the son of the previous leader, and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard retaining significant authority, Vance told CNN that “fundamentally, it is a much different group of people.” He insisted that the conflict had enabled more direct communication with high-level Iranian officials and that the relationship was “fundamentally transformed.”
Unclear Next Steps in Congress
Most Senate Republicans expressed a desire to review the deal, but it remained uncertain whether they would hold a vote or if Congress could pass it. Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri argued against an up-or-down vote, stating, “You have the camp that wants us to lose and then you have a camp that wants a forever war. President Trump’s not in either one of those camps, and neither am I.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, expects the Senate to have the final say but praised Trump for making “the single most consequential decision of his presidency” by attacking Iran. “I think he made America safer,” Cruz said. “The president as commander in chief acted decisively to stop that ayatollah from getting nuclear weapons.”
Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican on the Intelligence Committee, anticipates further steps before any package reaches Congress for review. “Seems like early reports are showing that this is kind of the first step,” he said. “Once we have a final agreement, we need to take it up and pass it. … If you want a long-term agreement it’s got to be law.”
Democratic Questions on Changes
Democrats questioned how the deal improves upon the U.S. position before the war and how it differs from Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, “For all his critique of JCPOA, we had international observers, we actually had an alliance there that included the Europeans, and Russia and China were all signatories.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., noted more questions than answers, including the fate of the Iranian nuclear program and sanctions on Iranian oil. Trump has spent “tens of billions of dollars” and service members and Iranians have died, “and he still cannot explain how one family in Massachusetts is better off,” Warren said.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia viewed an end to the costly and unpopular war as a positive outcome but sought more details. “An off ramp is good because it was a war that should have never been started,” he said.
