Several notable Republican senators break with Trump over Iran agreement
From calling it the “worst foreign policy mistake in decades” to calling it President Donald Trump’s “foreign policy mistake” memorandum of understanding Some Republican senators, who “could not keep up” with Iran’s stated goals, parted ways with the president over the deal.
The main concerns of some of Trump’s closest allies on the Hill revolved around a significant economic opportunity to rebuild Iran with few concessions in return, outlined in the short-term deal Trump signed Wednesday.
“I have concerns that some aspects of this agreement are going in the wrong direction,” Republican Senator Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Fox News on Thursday.
Will Oliver/EPA via Shutterstock – PHOTO: Sen. Tom Cotton is shown at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on June 4, 2026.
“[Trump] “He deserves tremendous credit for making Iran weaker than it has been in decades, and we must make sure we don’t squander the influence we’ve built up over six years,” the Arkansas senator said.
What we know when we compare Trump and Obama’s Iran deals: ANALYSIS
Cotton’s comments are notable because he is one of the Senate’s most hawkish voices on the war in Iran, pushing the president to continue attacking the Iranian regime.
Other Republican senators had similar views on the deal, arguing that it gave Iran immediate relief on oil revenues and promised to help release $24 billion in Iranian assets and create a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran.
‘Extremely bad idea’
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said of the rebuilding fund: “History shows that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to kill us is an extremely bad idea, and unfortunately I think the President is really ill-advised on this deal.” “I don’t want to see us send even a penny to the Ayatollah, and I hope we don’t.”
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images – PHOTO: Senator Ted Cruz questions Secretary of State Marco Rubio during testimony at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC on June 02, 2026
“I support President Trump and think his leadership on Iran has been outstanding. I believe he is ill-advised and I think sending billions of dollars to Iran is a mistake,” he added.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi issued a depressing statement about the Memorandum of Understanding, saying that the proposal to create a $300 billion account to finance Iran’s reconstruction “will make Iran’s return under President Obama’s 2015 deal seem minuscule by comparison.”
The agreement states that the United States and its Middle East partners will create a $300 billion account for reconstruction and economic development, but Trump said the United States will not contribute to this.
“We’re not going to put in 10 cents,” Trump said Wednesday. “People may decide to do that, but it’s up to them.”
Wicker also said he opposes lifting sanctions on Iran, unfreezing Iranian assets or forcing Israel to back down against Hezbollah.
“The Iranian regime has not given up on its ultimate goal – death to America, death to Israel. The regime will spend every penny it receives to advance this goal,” Wicker said. he said.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images – PHOTO: Mayor Sen. Roger Wicker speaks as U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Christopher LaNeve speak before a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on May 12, 2026 in Washington, D.C.
Additionally, while the agreement calls for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen free of charge, senators said the future of the strait is uncertain and could potentially open the door to Iran imposing fees for safe passage.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said that while “some important things” have been accomplished in the campaign against Iran, “I’m afraid that when we look back, we will see a missed opportunity to eliminate the threat going forward, because there is nothing to prevent the regime from starting to voluntarily block the Strait of Hormuz again.” he said.
Iran has no demand for nuclear weapons
Senators also had concerns that the Memorandum of Understanding does not require Iran to destroy its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and does not provide a mechanism to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons in the future, one of Trump’s main goals.
Instead, the MoU says it reaffirms Iran’s long-standing commitment not to pursue nuclear weapons and to negotiate what to do with the country’s nuclear stockpile.
“From day one, I have supported President Trump’s efforts to end Iran’s 47-year threat to the United States and our partners. I am concerned that the memorandum of understanding negates the victories of Operation Epic Fury by negotiating them in a manner completely contrary to the President’s goals,” Wicker said in a statement Thursday. he said.
“The terms of the published memorandum of understanding start with the immediate release of 10 billions of dollars to Iran before Iran makes a single nuclear concession. I think this is a mistake,” he said.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. He also expressed his doubts about the agreement and said, “Iran’s nuclear ambitions have not been restrained.”
Graham: The positives outweigh the negatives
Other Republicans, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, also expressed initial skepticism about the deal but said he was cautiously optimistic that a possible future agreement would ease their initial concerns.
Jeffrey Collins/AP Photo – PHOTO: Senator Lindsey Graham speaks after winning the Republican primary on June 9, 2026 in Columbia, S.C.
While Graham said some of the criticisms of the MoU were valid, without it “there is no path to diplomacy that will end Iran’s nuclear ambitions. What does that leave you? Continuing the status quo with war, so the upside of signing the MoU was, in my opinion, greater than the downside.”
“Time will tell, but I’m glad we’re on the path to diplomacy and we’ll know what kind of deal we’ll reach in the coming weeks.
“Go after a good deal, but be prepared to walk away,” Graham said he told Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East.
The administration pushed back on some of these criticisms, saying sanctions relief and asset access to Iran depended on “very concrete nuclear commitments” made by Iran, and also said negotiations toward a final agreement would continue, calling the memorandum a framework and not a final agreement.
Vice President J.D. Vance addressed skeptics at a White House press conference on Thursday.
“People say Iranians will never change their behavior. Maybe that’s true,” he said. “And if so, they wouldn’t get any of the benefits of the deal. But isn’t it worth a try? Isn’t it worth trying to see if this incredibly weakened position that the US president has put the Iranians under motivates them to change their behavior not only towards the West, but towards the Middle East as well?”
