When is a treaty not a treaty? When it is a deal of the kind that the Obama administration struck with Iran in 2015.When is a deal not a deal? When it is the kind of agreement that President Donald Trump signed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles on June 17: a memorandum of understanding, fostered by Qatar and Pakistan with Turkish support and Chinese approval.The Obama administration called its “Iran deal” the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action because a real treaty would have required Senate ratification. Trump calls the memorandum of understanding a “great deal that will bring Peace and Security to the whole region,” but the MOU is an agreement to talk for 60 days. A great deal remains unsaid in the MOU. The topics include ending 47 years of hostility between Iran and the United States, restoring passage in the Strait of Hormuz, nullifying the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, lifting sanctions, allowing Iran to sell its oil on the open market, and freeing up $300 billion in Iranian assets.
Almost immediately, the two parties declared different understandings of what the MOU means. Trump called it proof of American victory and said that the Islamic Republic is “finished.” The Islamic Republic’s chief negotiator, parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, called the MOU “a declaration of America’s defeat.”Ships sit at anchor in the Strait of Hormuz near Bandar Abbas, Iran, May 4, 2026. Above, pro-government supporters beneath a Tehran banner depicting Iran’s late and current supreme leaders. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA/AP)
