Evian (France): Just 48 hours before the signing of a key peace agreement with Iran, US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the memorandum of understanding is “not final,” warning that military action could resume if Tehran fails to comply with its commitments.
Speaking during a bilateral meeting with the president of Egypt at the G7 summit, Trump said the United States could return to military strikes if he is dissatisfied with the final terms of the agreement.
Asked by reporters whether the agreement between Washington and Tehran was finalized, Trump replied: “It’s not final. It’s a memorandum of understanding, and if I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting them, dropping bombs on their heads. If I don’t like it, if they don’t behave, we’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head. Okay? ‘Cause they’ve misbehaved for 47 years.”
Trump’s remarks came a day after he announced that the deal with Iran was “complete” and would be formally signed Friday.
Earlier Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance said both sides had already “signed the deal digitally” and emphasized that any sanctions relief would be contingent on Iran meeting its obligations under the agreement.
Speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Vance said, “We already signed the deal digitally yesterday, and there’s been no money released, and that won’t change.”
He added that sanctions relief would depend on verifiable actions by Iran.
“Again, this is a performance-based thing. If we see the Iranians making, for example, taking action to eliminate their stockpile of enriched material, then sanctions relief will follow. If we see the Iranians taking action to allow the kind of verification regime that we need to see to know that they’re not going to build a nuclear weapon, sanctions relief will follow,” Vance said.
Vance said the agreement could pave the way for Iran’s reintegration into the global economy if it complies with the terms.
“This is really about walking down a pathway here where the Iranians will be welcomed into the world economy if they do the right thing,” he said.
Acknowledging the region’s volatility, Vance cautioned that challenges could still complicate implementation of the deal.
“Everything is going to complicate the deal. As you know, in this region of the world, even a ceasefire, sometimes, they’re a little bit dirty. It goes from shooting a lot to shooting a little to shooting not at all,” he said.
