CIA Director John Ratcliffe reportedly communicated to President Donald Trump serious doubts that Iran would agree to nuclear concessions sought by the United States as part of a final deal to end the war.As part of the deal to end the war, to be signed on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, the U.S. and Iran agreed to put off final nuclear negotiations until after the signing. Despite Trump’s optimism, three officials told Axios on Monday that the intelligence community isn’t convinced of Iran’s willingness to make serious concessions. Among the most damning alleged pieces of evidence was that Iranian officials discussed details of negotiations among themselves in much different terms than what they were telling the U.S. and their mediators.“The intelligence reflects that the Iranian intentions are not in line with their commitments under the deal,” one of the sources told the outlet.
Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and War Secretary Pete Hegseth were all reportedly skeptical of the deal, while Vice President JD Vance and special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were in favor.
While Trump spoke in maximalist terms in the opening days of Operation Epic Fury, by the time a ceasefire was signed in April, he was speaking of a lasting nuclear deal as the greatest priority in negotiations. A failure of Iran to accede to U.S. demands would mark a major defeat for Trump’s primary objective in the war.
