The Iran War Isn’t Ending Anytime Soon

Date: 2026-06-18 12:25:06 Source: IT Builder News Author: Server

Despite yet another round of Trumpian pomp and circumstance around the president’s supposed deal to end the war in Iran, the agreement between the US and Iran’s government looks short on details and long on impracticality. 

The two countries are set to officially sign a memorandum of understanding on Friday, which will start the timer running on a 60-day period of discussion to conclusively end the war. On Tuesday, Bloomberg released the text of the 14-point draft agreement, and on Wednesday morning, CNN published a similar copy. 

The first point in both versions of the draft agreement: the US, Iran, and all of their allies will cease fighting on all fronts “from now on.” The text specifically cites Lebanon, a country that Israel has continuously bombed throughout the war—and for decades prior.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump criticized Israel’s bombing campaign at the G7 summit, saying it was “unnecessary” to destroy large numbers of residential buildings in pursuit of Hezbollah members, that the fighting was “too long and too many people are being killed,” and that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needed to “be more responsible.” (As my colleague Sophie Hurwitz pointed out Sunday, Trump wouldn’t be the first president to condemn Netanyahu while materially supporting his wars.)

Indeed, Trump has repeatedly shifted the goalposts on Iran. Is he now cooling on his own deal in the face of d0mestic opposition? His renewed insistence that the deal isn’t “final”—and his threats to resume bombing—signal that, like Netanyahu, he may not consider his own deal binding. On Wednesday, he even suggested that the memorandum of understanding “might not be the kind of a document I should be signing” and expressed approval at the suggestion that he could blame Vice President JD Vance if the deal “doesn’t work out.”

Israel, meanwhile, has reportedly been denied access to the text of the US-Iran agreement, and on Monday, Netanyahu vowed to ignore the agreement and continue to occupy Lebanon “for as long as necessary.”

If Israel—or any of the other countries involved—do not comply with the agreement, then its next thirteen points will not hold. It doesn’t matter whether the US is actually genuine in its commitment to respect Iran’s sovereignty, lift all of its sanctions, and source at least $300 billion in investment to fund rehabilitation and economic development in Iran. That’s assuming Trump doesn’t simply walk back his commitments, particularly if the US doesn’t get an answer it likes on its demands around the country’s nuclear capabilities.

And perhaps more blatantly from Trump on Wednesday: “If [Iran doesn’t] behave, we’ll go back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head.” 

According to data from multiple ministries in Iran’s government, as of June 10, about 3,500 people in Iran and 3,700 people in Lebanon have been killed.

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