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Posted on 06/17/2026 7:58:17 AM PDT by Miami Rebel
Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade ripped the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran during a Wednesday morning interview with the Hudson Institute’s Rebeccah Heinrichs.
“Rebeccah, can we just start on the Israeli portion of it? Israel has to, I guess, stop fighting back against Hezbollah, who’s lobbing missiles at the northern part of their country,” began Kilmeade. “This makes absolutely no sense.”
“It makes no sense. And we also know, Brian, that there have been diplomatic attempts over and over and over again since the early 2000s to try to get Hezbollah to disarm. They will not disarm, it has never worked through negotiations and diplomacy. At this point, if this is tied to this deal, the United States would essentially be restraining Israel, our greatest ally in the region and the reason that we had such success in [Operation] Epic Fury,” replied Heinrichs.
“Yeah, you can’t blame [Benjamin] Netanyahu for this. They’re defending themselves. They just happen to be very good at defending themselves. It’s not their fault that they’re this strong and this devastating, and Syria is not equipped to take out Hezbollah, even though they’d love to. They have no missile defense, Hezbollah has got rockets,” agreed Kilmeade, shooting down Trump’s suggestion that Israel allow Syria to take out Hezbollah.
“Let’s talk about the deal. What concerns you most about what we now know about this deal as we wait two days for the formal reading of the deal?” he followed up.
“Well, first of all, Brian, I just want to say, I mean, Epic Fury was so successful and Economic Fury is so successful, and President Trump was right to initiate it. And we really have the Iranians in a vice, which is why I’m concerned that we would permit the Iranians access to their oil as we relieve this blockade. They would essentially have billions of dollars back into the IRGC coffers. I know the vice president continues to say this will be conditions-based, but as far I can tell this, isn’t even gonna be put in escrow accounts to trap it to make sure that the IRGC complies. We have no reason to believe that they will, so they will be flooded with cash almost immediately,” answered Heinrichs. “My second big concern is that the deal does recognize Iranian governance with other Gulf States over the Strait of Hormuz. Now, the Iranians will say they just want to collect environmental tolls. They’re not going to call it tolls, they’ll call it fees. That’s tolls! Brian, that’s worse than before Epic Fury. The United States cannot permit Iran to have coercive control over the Strait of Hormuz. And so to me, those are the two big ones tied with, I think., the fact that once you relieve sanctions, you really lose your leverage to enforce what we want on removing and dismantling Iran’s nuclear program.”
“And what we’re gonna do is they have frozen funds. So it’ll be 300 billion. It looks like they get it up front. It looks they’re gonna be selling oil right up front, and it looks like after 60 days they charge tolls with Oman. There’s no way, because that’s gonna set a precedent for international waters and waterways around the world. So that every big and small power does not want this to be a new trend,” mused Kilmeade. “That’ll blow everybody’s budget, correct?”
The pair went on to express concern over the leverage the agreement might lend the Chinese as well as the United States’ role in helping Iran secure the $300 billion in investments. Kilmeade openly wondered “if the people that negotiated this have informed the president about what’s in the page-and-a-half he’s going to read publicly on Friday.”
“I would just say: we were in a much better place before we saw the details of this MOU. And unless President Trump can change this at the last minute and get good deals here, I would say that this Memorandum of Understanding is worse than not having it,” concluded Heinrichs.
“Right, next 24 hours he could go in and do that. I hope he does,” concurred Kilmeade.
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This is pure weapons-grade copium. If Iran was at our mercy, Trump would not even be publicly entertaining this deal at all.
He would be the one setting terms that were at least largely in OUR favor.
I don't even have to pay attention to the Iranian press; all I have to do is look at how much the Israeli government (and Israelis in general) are shrieking about being betrayed by America online.
One thing that I learned from this is that so long as gas is expensive, nobody cares about if Iran has a nuke or not. I suspect the corollary is true as well. So long as gas is cheap, nobody will care about the deal.
It is a sad statement but the political reality. Having said that, when the midterms are done, I suspect Iran goes back to being a prime target.
You have to reckon with the fact that bombing Iran was
a bad war.... and a lost war..... or your analysis is garbage.
It's not a sad statement at all. It simply reflects the perfectly understandable sentiment of people who don't trust their government anymore, and who are tired of the "Chicken Little" propaganda that has polluted the political conversation around issues like this for years.
Kilmeade is NOT a Rhodes Scholar!
“You have to reckon with the fact it was a bad war and a lost war, or your analysis is garbage.”
It is good war, Iran’s bomb dreams, the destruction of Israel, and global jihah are buried beneath a mountain of rubble and an existential threat has been removed. And it isn’t a “lost war”, it is a war put on pause for political expediency. I expect it will be resumed and completed after the election.
Syria is not equipped to take out Hezbollah .......but Israel is.......
Israel has tons of US weaponry....all financed by US taxpayers.
As of January 2026, the US Congress finalized $6.67 billion tax
dollars in arms for Israel to enhance its defense capabilities:
<><>new gifts of Apache helicopters,
<><>gifts of armored vehicles,
<><>and US tax-dollars for vehicle power packs
These 2026 gifts are additions
<><>to significant ongoing, long-term US tax dollar military assistance
<><>“emergency” US tax dollars Israel tells the Congress it “needs”
<><>tax dollar billions for killings in Gaza
<><>and Israel’s predictable need for “security.”
Key Components of recent 2026 “US tax dollar gifts” to Israel:
<><>$3.8 billion tax dollars for 30 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters
<><>related US arms equipment
<><>$1.98 billion US tax dollars for Joint Light Tactical Assault Vehicles (JLTAVs).
<><>$740 million tax dollars for Namer armored personnel carrier power packs.
<><>tax-dollar subsidized utility helicopters
<><>plus unnamed other US tax-subsidized equipment.
The bought and paid for Congress earlier approved over $14 billion in tax dollars
for defense replenishment w/ US arms, and unnamed Israeli “security” needs.
<><>a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was drafted
<><>covers $38 Billion US tax dollars in military aid 2019–2028
<><>$33B tax dollars in weaponry “gifts”
<><>$5 billion tax dollars in missile defense gifts.
<><>including precision-guided munitions and bunker busters.
The US tax-paid weapons are “gifts to Israel:”
<><>to defend its borders
<><>to protect its population against current and future threats,
<><>for further forays into Iran to achieve secret Israeli goals
<><>and for Israel’s continued bombardment of Lebanon.
This is information Israel does not want you to know
about. Thus, the anti-semitism charges begin shortly.
Trump negotiated with Iran through Pakistan, the country that hid Bib Laden from us, and Qatar who sided with Hamas, the Iranian puppet, and hid Hamas leaders.
Anyone see a conflict of interest here?
a) Israel was willing to take a great risk to achieve more;
b) the Saudis and Gulf States were surprisingly willing to go along even as the costs of the war to them rose sharply;
Our allies have borne a far greater cost proportionately than we have, only to be undercut by Trump and returned to roughly the status quo ante bellum. It will take a long time before the US recovers that loss of trust.
c) The US military seems to have made fundamental mistakes regarding Iran's capabilities and failed to adequately protect our own and allied resources. The Ukraine War has amply demonstrated both drone and anti-drone capability, but no one seems to have paid attention. Plus Iran's ballistic missile capability seems to have been severely underestimated.
This isn't a loss like Vietnam or Afghanistan where US elites and a segment of the public simply became exasperated by a local ally who seemed incapable of standing on its own. This is a defeat of the US in the field or at least will be perceived that way due to Trump's decisions.
Trump has made himself look like a fool and the US like a country not to be taken seriously. "Coercive diplomacy" may have been the intent, but Trump seems to have never been prepared to raise the coercion to the level necessary to achieve the diplomatic objectives.
As is usually the case, we will pay the price in both blood and treasure down the road.
Opinions. Not facts.
“This is pure weapons-grade copium.”
Posting during work. I meant air power. Trump can completely destroy Iran’s infrastructure with airpower. A country’s military cannot fight a war without that. They can sit around, unopposed, and starve. But the civilian population would also.
We basically had three options:1) Prolong the blockade along the Strait. Economically unpalatable not just to us, but to our own allies. (I can only imagine just how many people have been shouting at the White House since 2/28.)
Option 1 is not really an option. The price of gas is being kept artificially low by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The containers will start to run out in a few weeks and there would then be no way to limit the spike in oil prices. President Trump has no option to simply maintain the status quo.
2) Escalate to a full-blown invasion of Iran, as our prior aerial bombardments had not been sufficient to keep Iran from paralyzing the Strait of Hormuz.
It is not clear that we have a land force large enough to do the job. It may require a draft and the time required to create an adequate force. It is also not clear that we have sufficient logistics to optimally supply such a force with a logistical tail 7,000 miles long. As for opening the strait by force, sinking a few tankers in the channel would shut it down.
3) Make a deal, even if the terms aren't favorable. (Because, like it or not, we lost militarily, because we were unable to actually impose our will on Iran, nor were we able to obtain any of our strategic objectives.)
The original selling point of entering the armed conflict was that the Iranian people would rise up en masse and overthrow their government, and if that did not happen, we could just blow some stuff up for a few days and leave. And then Israel's first act was to blow up the Ayatollah and several members of his family, closing the door on the idea of just leaving after a few days. President Trump found himself trapped between a boots on the ground war for Israel, or tendering a Memorandum of Conditional Surrender. There was no military way forward and no way to remain in place and wait them out while the Western and Gulf economies melted down. The MOU was the least bad of the available choices.
The problem with implementing the MOU is how the U.S. curbs its dog, Israel, and makes it behave. We could start by removing all of our tanker aircraft from Israel and cutting off all logistical military support if any attacks on Lebanon occur.
The domestic problem with the MOU is how to paint the whole adventure in any favorable light. President Trump's ego will not allow him to admit he was played by Netanyahu on the world stage. We have gained nothing by the adventure, lost much, and have accepted the bill for what has been broken. And there are dead people.
Iran and Oman will collect navigational assistance and environmental fees. Iran will follow the United States lead in charging navigation fees. As you may observe, when the U.S. charges a navigation fee, it is not a toll.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/19/4.98
19 CFR § 4.98 - Navigation fees.(a)
(1) The Customs Service shall publish a General Notice in the Federal Register and Customs Bulletin periodically, setting forth a revised schedule of navigation fees for the following services:
Fee No. and description of services
1 Entry of vessel, including American, from foreign port:
(a) Less than 100 net tons.
(b) 100 net tons and over.2 Clearance of vessel, including American, to foreign port:
(a) Less than 100 net tons.
(b) 100 net tons or over.3 Issuing permit to foreign vessel to proceed from port to port, and receiving manifest.
4 Receiving manifest of foreign vessel on arrival from another port, and granting a permit to unlade.
5 Receiving post entry.
6 [Reserved]
7 Certifying payment of tonnage tax for foreign vessels only.
8 Furnishing copy of official document, including certified outward foreign manifest, and others not elsewhere enumerated.
[...]
The Iranian armed forces were totally destroyed. The top tier level of leaders were all killed. Their economy is in shambles. The country is at the mercy of the UNOPPOSED United States military.
The Iranian armed forces were 100% totally destroyed by propaganda, but it is that remaining 0% that the propaganda has not destroyed which guard the Strait of Hormuz and which successfully opposed the United States military.
Bullshit only goes so far. It could not open the Strait of Hormuz.
The only cards the Iranians have to play is their knowledge that Trump does not want to destroy the economic infrastructure of Iran....
Iran played the Strait of Hormuz card. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was opened and the reserves have been being "loaned" to the point that the reserve is about to run dry in a few weeks. Iran relied on the knowledge that President Trump did not want to go into the midterms with the world economy melting down.
You are a complete idiot to believe the Iranian press and their lapdogs the democrats with their media.
You are a towering intellect.
“The Iranian armed forces were 100% totally destroyed by propaganda...”
Was it propaganda that killed Iran’s leaders also?
You need some kind of help or intervention.
Well, it seems like a huge cost for war that fell a little bit short of unconditional surrender.
////////
We will not know the cost of the war until November. If the price of gas falls back to prewar levels and the republicans retain the house and senate—then the cost of the war will be minimal. if not—then yes the war would have been costly.
the broadcast side of it...occasionally there are worthwhile articles to read. but the on-air, Levin-Hannity echo chamber...is so toxic. And hopefully Trump won't be so inundated with their garbage anymore.
I was being sarcastic.
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