The Act of Surrender
One hundred nine days of war ended with a weaker deal and a stronger Iran.
On the evening of June 17, 2026, during a candlelit dinner at the Palace of Versailles, Donald picked up a pen, declared, “This was not easy,” and signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran ending a war he started illegally and in direct contravention of the Constitution 109 days earlier without congressional authorization.
The Trump regime would have us believe that Iran unconditionally surrendered to the United States.
Donald: Who else could have done a blockade like that? I did a naval blockade when not one ship was able to get through. Some tried. It didn’t last very long.
A reporter then pointed out an inconvenient fact.
Reporter: And it certainly brought Iran to the table more than before. However, at the beginning of the conflict, you had talked about only wanting unconditional surrender, and the MOU doesn’t look like unconditional surrender.
Donald responded with all of the certainty we have come to expect.
Well, it really probably is unconditional surrender. I think so.
He thinks so.
So it must be true.
Also, what exactly is the strategic value of a naval blockade on a strait that Iran had already closed?
Let’s put all of this into context.
I want you to decide for yourself.
President Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action consisted of 159 pages of binding commitments negotiated over twenty months with the participation of six world powers.
Donald’s agreement with Iran is fewer than two pages long.
Then again, if you are giving the other side almost everything it wants, perhaps negotiations do move more quickly.
After the signing, Iran’s chief negotiator declared:
Everything we sought to achieve through military action we obtained several times over through negotiation.
That is not a victory. That is not unconditional surrender.
It is, in the words of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who certainly has his own interests at stake, a catastrophic capitulation by the United States.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, later said Donald agreed to the deal “out of desperation.”
If you have been paying attention over the last several months, that assessment is difficult to dispute.
Let’s talk about the nuclear program.
The Trump regime insists that Iran’s nuclear and military programs have been completely destroyed.
The facts tell a very different story.
According to United States intelligence, Iran retains roughly seventy percent of its prewar missile stockpile.
Under Obama’s Iran deal, the International Atomic Energy Agency verified that Iran shipped out ninety eight percent of its enriched uranium, dismantled more than thirteen thousand centrifuges, and opened every nuclear facility to continuous inspection, extending Iran’s nuclear breakout time to at least one year.
Under the current memorandum of understanding, however, the IAEA cannot confirm whether Iran has suspended enrichment or even account for its existing stockpile of roughly 970 pounds of uranium enriched to sixty percent purity.
That amount is enough material for as many as ten nuclear weapons.
Independent nuclear experts say Iran could rebuild its enrichment capacity within two to three years.
The difference this time is that we will have no reliable way to verify whether it has.
Now let’s talk about the oil sanctions.
The Trump regime also claims that lifting sanctions is not actually a new benefit for Iran.
Here is what changed.
Before the war, Iran was forced to sell oil at steep discounts, primarily to Chinese refineries willing to risk United States sanctions.
Under this agreement, Iran can now sell oil at full market prices, which happen to be significantly higher thanks to Donald’s illegal and unconstitutional war of choice.
It can also sell to a broader range of buyers and in more favorable currencies, generating billions of dollars in additional revenue.
This is what J.D. Vance said:
Well, first of all, they’ve made very concrete nuclear commitments. They have committed to the destruction of the highly enriched stockpile that they have in their possession. But number two, all we’ve done is lift the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. We basically returned it to where it was before the conflict. The blockade is off. We put that in after the conflict started. The strait is now open. That’s not a new benefit to the Iranians. They were selling oil for many, many years well before we ever put the blockade. We opposed that blockade. They stopped selling oil and now we’ve lifted the blockade in order to promote the free flow of energy across the world.
Much to the benefit of Iran.
Under Obama’s JCPOA, oil sanctions were lifted only after the International Atomic Energy Agency verified that Iran had completed every required nuclear commitment.
The current memorandum allows Iran to receive oil export waivers immediately upon signing, before a single nuclear concession has been independently verified.
Which is to say that of the many rationales Donald offered for starting this war, the most important one, eliminating Iran’s nuclear program, has not only failed to be achieved, but the agreement actually makes it easier for Iran to continue developing nuclear capabilities.
Iran’s oil exports are expected to return to approximately 1.5 to 1.8 million barrels per day while generating substantially more revenue than they would have earned before this war.
And that is exactly what Donald calls a victory.
As you may remember, Donald spent years attacking Barack Obama over one particular provision of the JCPOA.
If Iran complied with the agreement, approximately $1.7 billion in frozen Iranian assets would be released.
According to Donald, that was one of the greatest betrayals in American history.
Now the Trump regime insists the United States is not giving Iran a single penny.
The agreement itself says otherwise.
The memorandum states that the United States will unfreeze assets and release restricted funds upon implementation, immediately after signing and before compliance has been independently verified.
That amounts to approximately $25 billion.
For anyone keeping score at home, that is significantly more than the amount Donald spent years condemning under President Obama.
It gets worse.
The agreement also commits the United States and its regional partners to a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran after Donald and Pete Hegseth bombed the country’s infrastructure using American taxpayer dollars.
This is what J.D. Vance said:
Well, so there are many differences. The Obama deal gave them over a billion dollars of American money. This deal gives them zero dollars of American money. So a lot of substantive differences, but I think the most important differences are we’re coming at it from a position of strength and the fact that our Gulf Coast partners love this deal.
Lie upon lie upon lie.
Nobody except Iran and Iran’s allies love this deal.
Perhaps the biggest promise made by the Trump regime was that this war would eliminate Iran’s military threat.
It did not.
The administration continues insisting Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities were significantly degraded and that the mission was a complete success.
According to United States intelligence, however, Iran retains roughly seventy percent of its prewar missile stockpile.
Even more remarkable, the memorandum does not mention Iran’s missile program at all.
On June 17, 2026, Donald spoke at the G7 in France.
Donald: We’ve been pretty tough in that. It’s also a little hard though when you say that somebody wants it. Other people have it, other adjoining states have it and you’re not letting them have it for purposes of electricity and things like that. It’s always a little tough. You have to use a little common sense, please.
Ah.
So now it is perfectly acceptable for Iran to maintain a nuclear program because other countries have one and because, according to Donald, they need electricity.
There is Donald pretending to care about the people of Iran after spending months insisting their nuclear program justified an illegal and unconstitutional war of choice.
Iran has a right to defend itself? This argument has also become increasingly common among Republicans.
Iran’s government is a terrorist regime.
It does not have that right, and the United States certainly should not be the country helping it become wealthier, stronger, and better positioned throughout the region.
Meanwhile, the Iranian people continue to suffer because Donald has done absolutely nothing to help them achieve meaningful regime change.
Of course, because Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump know almost nothing about military strategy, planning, or even when a war should be fought, American military stockpiles have been severely depleted.
The war cost tens of billions of dollars in Pentagon operational expenses.
It is estimated that between thirteen and fifteen American service members lost their lives.
More than 3,300 Iranians were killed, including over 180 children who died on the very first day when American missiles struck civilian areas.
There have also been nearly 4,000 deaths in Lebanon.
It is also worth noting that Donald’s lead negotiator, Steve Witkoff, is a former real estate developer. Which is to say he had absolutely no business conducting negotiations of this complexity, sensitivity, or geopolitical importance.
Finally, the administration is asking Americans to trust the process.
Meanwhile, the Trump regime insists this agreement is a historic victory that will transform the Middle East.
If by “transform the Middle East” they mean further empower Iran and strengthen the terrorist organizations it supports, including Hamas and Hezbollah, then yes, it will absolutely transform the region.
It has also permanently altered the global economy, and not in ways that benefit the United States or our allies.
Contradicting nearly every claim made by the Trump regime, Iran’s leadership tells a very different story.
On June 18, 2026, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei released a written statement saying he approved the agreement only after receiving personal assurances that Iran’s rights would be protected and that the country would not yield to excessive American demands.
There we go again.
Helping a corrupt terrorist regime remain in power while becoming wealthier and more influential.
Donald promised a stronger deal than Obama’s. Remember, this is the same deal he tore up in 2018 because he called it the worst agreement ever negotiated.
After 109 days of war, billions of taxpayer dollars spent, tens of billions in Pentagon costs, fifteen American service members lost, thousands of Iranian civilians killed, hundreds of children dead, and regional instability on a scale not seen in years, Donald arrived at an agreement that is weaker than the one he destroyed.
Iran retains its enriched uranium.
Iran retains most of its missile stockpile.
Iran receives immediate sanctions relief before compliance is verified.
Iran gains access to approximately $25 billion in frozen assets.
Iran gains the opportunity to sell oil at full market prices.
Iran stands to benefit from a $300 billion reconstruction fund.
And Iran’s leadership is openly celebrating the outcome.
Make no mistake.
This so called deal is an unmitigated disaster for the United States and many of our allies.
It is also an unmitigated disaster for the Iranian people because it strengthens the very regime that has oppressed them for decades.
It benefits Iran’s leadership.
It benefits Russia.
It benefits China.
Which leaves us with a question that, by now, should probably be rhetorical.
Who exactly is it that Donald Trump supports?
And here is another question that is anything but rhetorical.
Why do we continue allowing one depraved, incompetent, and profoundly corrupt man to wield so much power that he can inflict this much damage on the United States and on our allies around the world?
It would seem that he has never been accountable for anything. Why would he start now. More crap from a pos.
I love it that djt is too stupid to note the significance of signing at Versailles. What an idiot. Like he didn't notice the lower chair in China. We have a lot to fix when he is finally out of our people's house.
Make him accountable!