Donald Trump Jr. accused Sen. Ted Cruz of “lying through his teeth” after the Texas Republican sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s proposed agreement with Iran.
Trump signed a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding with the Iranian government on Wednesday night during the G7 summit in France. The agreement is aimed at bringing the conflict to an end after weeks of fragile negotiations.
Even so, the proposal has sparked unease among some Republicans, with critics inside Trump’s own party arguing that the terms appear to favor Iran more than the United States.
One of the biggest flashpoints is a provision that could establish a massive $300 billion reconstruction and development fund for Iran, prompting concerns that the package offers too much in concessions.
“What has been released so far suggests that, unfortunately, the president is getting, I think, very poor advice when it comes to this deal,” Cruz said in comments to the Daily Wire.
He added: “History teaches that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is a bad idea.”
Cruz went on to complain that between ‘$10 billion and $30 billion will flow to the Ayatollah immediately’ before they make any single nuclear concession.
After reading the remarks, Trump Jr claimed on social media that Cruz ‘is lying thru his teeth’ about the deal.
Senator Ted Cruz spoke out against a proposed deal with Iran on Wednesday
Donald Trump Jr accused him of ‘lying through his teeth’ about the terms of the agreement
‘We’re not giving them a cent and he knows that,’ the First Son said. ‘Using fake news about the deal to undermine @realDonaldTrump is the opposite of MAGA.’
Under the proposed deal, Iran’s ‘reconstruction and development fund’ would come from money the regime receives when sanctions are lifted and its assets are unfrozen.
The Trump administration insists American taxpayer dollars will not be used for the fund.
Yet that has not stopped some Republican lawmakers and pundits from slamming the proposed deal.
‘I think that’s ill-advised,’ said Cruz, who has been an ally of the president’s in the past.
‘That money, if it goes to the Ayatollah, will go to fund terrorists trying to kill Americans and weapons that will be used to kill Americans.’
He also accused Cruz of ‘using fake news about the peace deal’ to undermine the president
White House officials released a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding with the Iranian regime earlier in the day to end the war
The Texas senator also noted that the Memorandum of Understanding appears to allow for the Iranian regime to maintain control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil supply flows.
‘It is difficult to see what possible benefit to America could come from that.’
Cruz then went on to praise the president for launching the war with Iran’s brutal dictatorship.
He said Trump ‘was exactly right to initiate military action against Iran, because for 47 years the regime has been waging war against America, has been the world’s leading funder of terrorism and has been murdering Americans for 47 years.
‘Nearly 1,000 Americans have been murdered by the Ayatollah and the mullahs,’ Cruz claimed. ‘That is why the president acted as a strong commander-in-chief to take out their military capacity.’
But, Cruz said, ‘It is not remotely in America’s interest for us to pay to rebuild that capacity that we just took out.’
Critics worry it hands too many concessions to the Iranian regime. The country’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is pictured
Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, who lost in a primary last month after Trump targeted him for defeat, declared on social media that ‘Reagan is rolling over in his grave.’
He argued that Iran’s nuclear ambitions ‘were not curbed’ under the deal, which gives both sides a 60-day window to finalize an agreement on how to deal with Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, and that the Iranian regime learned it could leverage the Strait of Hormuz to extract concessions.
‘Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions and 13 service members were still alive,’ Cassidy noted. ‘Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted and the bombing has stopped.
‘This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades,’ he wrote.
Fox News’ Mark Levin also tore apart the deal in a lengthy post on X.
He had mused earlier in the day he found ‘much to be concerned about’ in the agreement, and expanded on his thoughts after the terms of the deal were formally released.
Fox News’ Mark Levin and Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy also spoke out against the deal
After reading the Memorandum of Understanding, Cassidy wrote that ‘Reagan was rolling over in his grave’
‘President Trump ordered this military operation to prevent Iran from getting and using nuclear weapons,’ he noted, saying the early days of the joint operation with Israel seemed to be a ‘spectacular success.’
‘Great damage has been done to Iran’s military. And the president deserves enormous credit for having the courage to do what no other president did before him,’ Levin wrote.
But he went on to say he had consistently warned that the Iranian regime would not honor any peace deal, and would instead use the negotiations as a way to further the regime’s goals.
The Trump administration, though, opted to abandon ‘the military destruction of Iran… due, in part, to polling and gas prices’ and seek a deal in an effort to avoid a ‘forever war.’
If the deal is now not ‘drastically altered during the 60-day negotiation period, a forever war – a continuation of Iran’s war on the West – is not in doubt.’
Levin accused the Trump administration of ‘abandoning’ the Iranian people who had protested against the regime ahead of the war
Under the agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened. Vessels are pictured on the strait on Tuesday
Levin also noted that the Memorandum of Understanding does not make any mention of Iran’s use of ballistic missiles, which he said are ‘the single most destructive weapon Iran has used and which have the capability of killing tens of thousands and destroying cities if launched in a wave.’
The proposed deal also fails to mention Iran’s ‘promoting and funding terrorism and terror groups,’ Levin said, adding there is ‘not a word about the Iranian people who we promised to help at the outset.
‘Apparently, they’ve been abandoned,’ he claimed.
Further, Levin said, the Memorandum of Understanding does not mention anything about the Iranian regime paying reparations to the US, Israel or Gulf countries ‘for the massive damage caused by their ballistic missiles and other missiles.’
‘AGAIN, DURING THE NEXT 60 DAYS THIS MOU REQUIRES SERIOUS CHANGES IF NOT OUTRIGHT ABANDONMENT,’ the Fox News host concluded.
His colleague on the network, contributor Leslie Marshall, went even further as she described the Memorandum of Understanding as ‘a great deal for Iran.’
‘Iran comes back richer,’ she said on Wednesday’s Special Report with Bret Baier. ‘When you look at items 6, 7, 11 in the 14 points, they get money – $300 billion.’
While she acknowledged that taxpayers are not footing that bill, Marshall questioned what the United States does get out of the deal.
‘We get a strait that was opened before reopened. We get a temporary hold in no tolls,’ she told Baier, noting that Iran is getting concessions despite not having a regime change.
‘And where is the verification – the specific verification within these 14 points of this MOU to make sure that Iran is more than just promising that they’re not going to have any nukes?’ Marshall asked, rhetorically.
‘And by the way, they can temporarily have nukes, and the president today said it’s OK for them to have missiles,’ she continued. ‘This is why you have bipartisan support against this.’
Marshall was referring to a news conference the president gave earlier in the day, in which he argued that a complete ban on conventional ballistic missiles is unrealistic because ‘they got to have some.’
‘What am I going to do? Am I going to let Saudi Arabia have missiles, but they can’t have them?’ Trump said during the briefing. ‘Missiles aren’t the problem. They hurt a little location, but they don’t blow up the planet.’
Trump conceded in a news conference on Wednesday that Iran will be able to keep its ballistic missiles
When a reporter then noted that one of the goals of Operation Epic Fury was to destroy Iran’s ballistic missiles, Trump doubled down.
‘What are they keeping? They have less than other nations now. The rest of them are underground. They can’t even get them out,’ Trump said in defense, adding that US forces have already knocked out about 85 percent of their missiles.
The president then half-jokingly suggested Vice President JD Vance could own the fallout if a deal were to go south.
‘I like that idea. This way, if it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD. You better be careful, JD. He’s going to turn his plane around and get the hell out of here,’ Trump said menacingly.
But, he vowed that if Iran were to misbehave he would ‘go back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head.’
