The tense negotiations between Washington and Tehran hit a crisis of trust this weekend, after the leak of confidential text from a draft memorandum of understanding that is supposed to be signed in Geneva. President Donald Trump was furious at the publication, which portrayed the agreement as too lenient toward Iran, and instructed senior administration officials to launch an aggressive messaging campaign, the Wall Street Journal reported today (Saturday).
The leak of the text of the agreement has angered Washington’s political establishment, especially President Trump, who sees negotiating from a position of absolute power as his hallmark. White House officials confirmed that Trump was furious to learn that large sections of the emerging text had been leaked directly to the media. Those sections presented a less rigid line from the United States regarding the timetable for unfreezing the funds.
Trump saw this as a calculated Iranian effort to create the impression of American surrender, claiming in closed-door conversations: “They think we’re suckers.” Following this, the president immediately instructed his team of spokespeople and advisers to launch a messaging push with clear orders to kill the narrative that the emerging peace agreement is weak, and make it clear to the public that Iran will not receive billions of dollars before it fulfills all of its obligations.
As part of the containment effort, a senior administration official laid out the administration’s hardline position on Friday, making clear that Iran will only receive sanctions relief and economic benefits after it takes practical, irreversible steps on its nuclear program.
The conditions published to reassure the public were unambiguous: complete dismantling of nuclear sites – Iran will be required to disable and decommission its nuclear facilities, cessation of the enrichment program – a complete halt to uranium enrichment at all levels, and cessation of regional terrorism financing – a complete halt to the flow of funds and weapons to proxy militias in the Middle East, primarily Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The reason for Trump’s extreme sensitivity to the leak stems from the domestic political bind he’s in. During his first term, Trump famously withdrew from Obama’s 2015 nuclear agreement, calling it “the worst deal in history.” Now, security experts and hawkish Republicans are warning that the deal Trump is rushing to finalize could carry the same flaws.
Trump’s strategy is to postpone burning issues like the dismantling of enriched uranium and the nuclear program to future technical talks in Islamabad, and for now settle for a temporary memorandum of understanding in Geneva that would open the Strait of Hormuz and lower soaring U.S. oil prices.