Vice President JD Vance acknowledged Monday that the memorandum of understanding signed with Iran remains highly general and that key terms must still be hammered out, as Republican senators returned to Washington demanding more information about an agreement the Trump administration announced Sunday.
In an interview with CNN, Vance called the MOU “a very general document” that is “about a page.” He said that on “a number of issues, we are going to have to figure this stuff out during the technical negotiation phase.” A ceremonial signing is scheduled Friday in Geneva.
The agreement centers on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the US naval blockade of Iran, along with offering financial incentives if Iran meets benchmarks. US officials told reporters Monday that the MOU includes the possibility of releasing frozen Iranian funds, sanctions relief, and a $300 billion fund to help rebuild Iran — paid for by neighboring Gulf states, Vance confirmed. He said the White House would release the text this week, and that “what everybody will see is that Iran doesn’t get a dime of money unless they perform their obligations.”
Multiple Senate Republicans expressed deep skepticism. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters at the Capitol: “I just don’t know enough about it. Even the people who follow this stuff closely up here don’t know that much about it.” He said he had not been personally briefed on the deal, despite his leadership role. His concerns, he said, center on compliance and enforcement: “I think the issues are going to be compliance, and how are you going to enforce that.”
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina questioned the lack of transparency: “If it’s a secret deal then how can I take it seriously?”
Senator Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally and longtime hawk on Iran, said he wants to see the agreement. “The way Iran describes it, it’s awful. The way we describe it, it makes sense to me,” Graham said. “Let’s look at it and see what it actually is.” He called for Congress to review and vote on it.
Vance responded directly to Graham in an interview with ABC, saying he would “caution Lindsey Graham and anybody else not to believe the hardliner propaganda in Iran, but to believe what’s actually in the agreement.”
Trump has not yet explained how the agreement will address Iran’s nuclear program, including verification of compliance and the disposition of highly enriched uranium buried under nuclear sites damaged by US strikes last summer. The MOU document itself has not been released.