Final Iran peace talks start Friday, but critics question concessions in new deal

The United States and Iran formally signed a peace agreement Wednesday, launching a 60-day effort to negotiate a broader deal centered on Iran’s nuclear program.

President Trump, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Pakistani officials, who helped broker the agreement, signed the document, with Trump acknowledging that “this was not easy.”

Now, Vice President JD Vance will head to Switzerland on Friday to kick off initial talks on the final peace deal, but Trump has warned that if Iran violates the deal, the U.S. will respond forcefully.

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Lifting sanctions

Under the deal, Iran agreed to address its enriched uranium stockpile in future talks, while the U.S. moves toward lifting sanctions and allowing Iranian oil exports to resume.

That specific stipulation, however, has received harsh feedback. Before the deal was signed, there were talks of lifting sanctions, and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said, “If this is true, Iran wins.”

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon also criticized the move Tuesday, saying, “Keep the sanctions, because if we lose that, it will take forever to get back.”

Lawmakers criticize the deal

Other lawmakers have also spoken out since the signing, unhappy with the deal, which, in addition to lifting sanctions and agreeing to talk further, declares intent for an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations.”

It stipulates that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen, with Iran vowing to allow “safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge for 60 days only.”

“Reagan is rolling over in his grave,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said in a post on X Wednesday. “Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future. Now, Iran gets to build brand-new infrastructure under this deal.”

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., called the deal a “total capitulation,” saying, “What’s next, the Russians get Alaska?”

“Donald Trump took us to war without a plan. Families have lost loved ones. Billions of dollars have been spent. For what?” Kelly wrote on X. “This ‘deal’ he signed leaves Iran stronger and in control of the Strait, but does little to advance US interests. The ‘master deal maker’ just made one of the worst deals in US history.”

Trump defends the deal

Despite criticism that the agreement gives Tehran too much leverage heading into the next round of negotiations, Trump defended the deal, saying it prevented a broader economic shock.

“So the one thing I didn’t want to see — I didn’t want to see economic catastrophe,” Trump said. “If you kept this going, that could have happened. But all I know is every time we talked about the possibility of peace, the stock market shot up like a rocket ship. It never went down. They didn’t like it, the people, you know the stock market is more brilliant than anybody else there is, including the people on this stage other than me, of course.”

Markets respond dramatically

Markets responded positively to the news Wednesday.

Oil prices have fallen sharply from their wartime peaks, and the national average price for gasoline has dropped below $4 a gallon for the first time since March.

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