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Security Council Warned Iran Nuclear Stalemate Is Creating Oversight Vacuum
Location: Iran
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to address the nation Wednesday evening about the war against Iran, a pivotal moment at home and abroad as he seeks to amass extraordinary power to prosecute the military operation and his second-term agenda. Trump started the day as the first sitting president to show up for a U.S. Supreme Court hearing, a stunning reach of the executive into the affairs of the judicial branch. He is preparing to end it with his first primetime address from the White House about a war he launched on his own, bulldozing past Congress. On an early spring night when many Americans may be looking upward as Artemis II astronauts lift off for NASA's historic return to the moon, Trump will refocus attention back to him — and to the conflict with Iran that has killed more than a dozen U.S. service members and appears to have no easy exit in sight. A watchful world awaits Trump’s speech Thousands of additional U.S. troops are heading to the Middle East. Gulf allies are urging Trump to finish the fight, arguing that Tehran hasn’t been weakened enough. And yet Trump himself predicted the U.S. will be done “within maybe two weeks." The president's address to a watchful nation — and world — will offer him an opportunity to outline his next steps: Will he declare victory and signal a readiness to move on from Iran? Or is the president preparing for a ground invasion by American troops — to retrieve Iran's enriched uranium or secure the Strait of Hormuz — that could launch the U.S. into another potentially lengthy war in the Middle East? Trump is fast approaching the 60-day mark when he must seek approval from Congress under the War Powers Act to continue any military operations. Mixed messages about an escalating war and hopes for diplomacy The Trump administration's stated goals for the war, and how it ends, have expanded and shifted. The administration has said it launched the U.S.-Israel campaign on Feb. 28 to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon, erode its ballistic missile stock and crush its navy. The bombing campaign quickly killed Iran's top leadership, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but regime change it is not. Khamenei's son has been installed as the new leader. What happened next appeared to throw the Trump administration's plans off-kilter: Iran's swift and relentless retaliation, bombing its Gulf state neighbors and jamming the global oil supply in the Strait of Hormuz, which sent energy prices soaring and left next steps uncertain. Trump has berated U.S. allies for not doing their part in the conflict, even as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would convene a diplomatic summit to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz after the fighting ends. Trump is not expected to announce the imminent start of peace talks in any venue, according to a U.S. official briefed on elements of the speech, which remains a work in progress. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the speech. But that could also change. Uncertainty about what Trump will do about NATO Virtually every country in the world has an interest in what Trump will say, even those geographically far removed from the conflict and facing higher energy prices as a result of the war and Iranian retaliation. The Trump administration has criticized traditional U.S. allies for not stepping in to help in the fight, with some European countries preventing use of their airspace and bases, and being reluctant to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of the world's oil normally passes. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have suggested that NATO will need to be reconsidered once the Iran war is over. Trump himself has gone so far as to say he is “seriously considering” withdrawing from the military alliance, which has been a bulwark of transatlantic unity and security since the end of World War II. Trump told Reuters before the speech that he plans to use the address to express his frustrations with NATO members. The president, however, cannot simply withdraw from NATO on his own, without a legal fight. After Trump's first term, then-President Joe Biden signed into law legislation that would prevent any president from leaving NATO without congressional support. The provision, part of a sweeping defense measure, was led in part by Rubio, a Republican senator at the time. “We’re going to have to re-examine the value of NATO and that alliance for our country," Rubio said Tuesday in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. "Ultimately, that’s a decision for the president to make, and he’ll have to make it.” A crisis within NATO, which appears to be building, and public taunts from Trump about U.S. partners will be welcomed by historic rivals Russia and China, which have long sought to break or at least stem the influence of the alliance that they regard as a threat to their own territorial and political agendas. Ukraine will be watching warily as Trump’s policies have significantly reduced U.S. support for its defense against Russia’s invasion. Political ramifications at home Trump, who ran as the “America First” president vowing not to drag the country into endless wars, has yet to fully address the political pushback he faces from his own base of supporters over the Iran conflict. The U.S. economy is roiling, the financial markets are swinging with Trump's various pronouncements about the war effort, and Americans are facing pain at the pump as the cost of living rises. While the president often describes the inflationary high prices as a momentary setback, it's all feeding into a rocky November midterm election. Some of the sharpest criticism he’s faced in the early days of the Iran war has come from once-loyal media figures in the MAGA-universe, including Tucker Carlson.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to address the nation Wednesday evening about the war against Iran, a pivotal moment at home and abroad as he seeks to amass extraordinary power to prosecute the military operation and his second-term agenda. Trump start…
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Security Council Warned Iran Nuclear Stalemate Is Creating Oversight Vacuum
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Senior U.S. officials on Wednesday read the memorandum of understanding with Iran to journalists after days of secrecy over what is in the document. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to read the draft, which Iran has not released, ahead of a formal signing ceremony set for Friday.
Here is what is in the U.S. draft: 1. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran and their allies in the current war by signing this MOU declare the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and undertake from now on not to initiate any war or any military operation against each other and to refrain from the threat or use of force against each other and ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon.
The final deal will confirm the permanent termination of the war on all fronts including in Lebanon and other provisions of this paragraph. 2. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran undertake to respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and to refrain from interfering in each other’s internal affairs.
3. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran commit to negotiating and achieving the final deal in maximum 60 days extendable with mutual consent. 4. Immediately upon the signing of this MOU, the United States of America will begin the removal of its naval blockade and any disturbances or impediments against the Islamic Republic of Iran and will fully end the naval blockade within 30 days.
During this period, the traffic of vessels will be in proportion to the numbers of prewar traffic being restored by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States of America further undertakes to remove its forces from the proximity of the Islamic Republic of Iran within 30 days after the final deal.
5. Upon the signing of this MOU, the Islamic Republic of Iran will make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge for 60 days only from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman and vice versa. The traffic of commercial vessels will immediately start and, considering the needs for removing the technical and military obstacles and demining by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will be instated within 30 days.
The Islamic Republic of Iran will conduct dialogue with the Sultanate of Oman to define the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz in discussion with other Persian Gulf littoral states in line with the applicable international law and the sovereign rights of coastal states of the Strait of Hormuz.
6. The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive mutually agreed plan with at least USD 300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The mechanism for the implementation of this plan will be finalized as part of a final deal within 60 days.
All required licenses, waivers and permissions needed for the relevant financial transactions will be granted by the United States of America. 7. The United States of America undertakes to terminate all types of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the United Nations Security Council resolutions, IAEA Board of Governors resolutions and all unilateral U.
S. sanctions, primary and secondary, in an agreed upon schedule as part of the final deal. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America acknowledge the critical importance of the sanctions termination issue above mentioned and express their intentions to immediately address these issues in the negotiations in order to achieve mutual agreement on them.
8. The Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons. United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran have agreed to resolve the disposition of stockpile enriched material pursuant to a mechanism that will be mutually agreed upon in accordance with the schedule mentioned in Paragraph 7 with the minimum methodology to be downblending on site under the supervision of the IAEA.
The two parties also agreed to discuss the issue of enrichment and other mutually agreed matters related to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear needs, based on a satisfactory framework being agreed upon in the final deal. The final deal will confirm the provisions of this paragraph.
The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran acknowledge the critical importance of the nuclear issues above mentioned and express their intention to immediately address these issues in the negotiations in order to achieve mutual agreement on them.
9. Pending the final deal, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran agree to maintain the status quo. The Islamic Republic will maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program and the United States of America will not impose any new sanctions and will not deploy additional forces in the region.
10. The United States of America undertakes that immediately upon the signing of this MOU and until the termination of sanctions the U.S. Department of Treasury will issue waivers for the export of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products and derivatives and all associated services including banking transactions, insurances, transportation, etc.
11. The United States of America undertakes to make fully available for use the frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran upon the implementation of this MOU. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran will mutually agree on the procedures related to the release of these funds during the negotiations.
Such funds, whether retained in the original account or transferred shall be made fully usable for payment to any ultimate beneficiary designated by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States of America undertakes to issue all necessary licenses and authorizations accordingly.
12. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran agree that an executive mechanism will be established to monitor the successful implementation of this MOU and the future compliance of the final deal. 13. After signing this MOU and subject to the beginning of the implementation of paragraphs 1, 4, 5, 10 and 11 of this MOU, and the continuing implementation of these measures, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran will start negotiations regarding the final deal exclusively on the other paragraphs.
14. The final deal will be endorsed by binding UNSC resolution. ___ Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price and Matthew Lee in Washington and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.