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Dear President Trump,
We write as members of the Citizens Commission on National Security, a watchdog group that includes retired generals, colonels, intelligence professionals, journalists, and policy experts who have defended you publicly through years of investigations, impeachments, and relentless media hostility. Many of us supported your toughest decisions on border security, economic policy, rebuilding the military, and confronting America’s enemies abroad.
That is precisely why we feel compelled to speak plainly now.
Your decision to move forward with a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran crosses a line we believe you yourself clearly drew and repeatedly warned the American people you would not cross. We hope it somehow produces the outcome you intend. But based on Iran’s record and behavior during these very negotiations, it looks less like a bold deal and more like a dangerous concession.
Even as you were telling the world the agreement was nearly done, Iran continued its aggression, firing missiles and drones around the Strait of Hormuz, at its Gulf neighbors and at Israel, deliberately raising the stakes while positioning itself as the “victim” and putting you in the position of publicly pressing Israel to hold back. This is Iran’s strategy. The regime uses proxies like Hezbollah as a tool of manipulation: when it wants leverage in talks or a wedge between Washington and Jerusalem, it pushes the button and rains missiles into northern Israel.
You know this pattern. You have described these people as fundamentally dishonest actors who “do not deal in good faith.” Yet days after publicly blasting their lies about the negotiations, your administration accepted an MOU that, from all public indications, rests heavily on Iranian assurances you have already told the world cannot be trusted.
We were pleased to see your Truth Social post on Sunday, stating that “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
We believe that you support Israel, and recognize that Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah are not attacks on Lebanon or Beirut, but are in fact retaliation for attacks by Iran, using Hezbollah as their instrument, or proxy. Hezbollah is Iran and they are occupying Lebanon, and as long as they attack Israel, Israel will hit back harder, as they should. Israel is not the problem, period, despite suggestions to the contrary by most of the media and some members of your administration.
Iran and its nuclear goals and ambitions
Iran has been insisting for years that it does not seek nuclear weapons. Its leaders repeat this line at the United Nations and in international forums. But their words have never matched their actions. A regime that spent decades pursuing enrichment, hiding their enrichment sites, and lying to inspectors does not become credible because it signs another piece of paper. And now the plan is apparently to have the IAEA and UN oversee the inspections, rather than US forces. We already know how that formula works out. It doesn’t. What’s needed are anytime, anywhere inspections with Americans leading the way.
Here is a timeline of more than three dozen Iranian acts of terrorism or war against the U.S. over the nearly half century of terrorism, war and chaos, most recently, in January, killing more than 30,000 of its own citizens who rose up in protest of the horrible conditions Iran’s people are forced to live under. Iran was also involved in the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Add to that the conviction in March by a jury in Brooklyn of a man, sent by Iran, who planned to assassinate you, President Trump.
And since then we have learned they also sought to kill your daughter, Ivanka.
What Iran wants from this deal
The reality is that Tehran knows exactly what it wants from this deal: an end to the immediate pressure, access to money and reconstruction funds, de facto recognition of its control over key chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz, and time to rebuild its capabilities. In exchange, it offers what it has always offered: vague commitments, unverifiable pledges, and “no nukes” language it has repeated for years while doing the opposite.
That is not a breakthrough. It is the same old lies and deception in different packaging, with even higher stakes.
When you launched major combat operations against Iran on February 28, you told the American people this was not just another Middle East skirmish. You said clearly that for nearly half a century the Iranian regime had waged war against the United States, killed our troops, attacked our ships, supported terrorism, and spread chaos across the region. You stated that we would no longer tolerate it, that we would destroy Iran’s missile and drone capabilities, its naval power, and its capacity to threaten our forces and allies.
You went further. You spoke directly to members of the Revolutionary Guard and other security forces, telling them to lay down their arms and that they would face “certain death” if they did not. You told the Iranian people the “hour of your freedom is at hand” and that this might be their only chance in generations to seize their destiny with American backing and overwhelming force.
On March 6, you made the U.S. position even clearer: “There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER,” followed by the selection of new, acceptable leadership, after which America and its allies would help rebuild Iran and “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN.” That was not ambiguous. It was a bright red line and a moral and strategic commitment.
The MOU now on the table breaks from that position in practice, whatever the rhetoric around it. It signals to Tehran and to the world that the United States is willing to settle for far less than unconditional surrender and regime transformation despite Iran’s continued sponsorship of terrorism, repeated ceasefire violations, and ongoing attacks on our allies and interests.
Number 6 in the MOU breathtakingly states, “The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least USD 300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The mechanism for the implementation of this plan will be finalized as part of a final deal within 60 days. All required licenses, waivers, and permissions needed for the relevant financial transactions will be granted by the United States of America.”
We know that won’t include a cent, as you say, from the U.S., but that point more than anything sounds like capitulation.
Your strongest allies see this deal and are sounding the alarm. Retired General Mike Flynn has warned that the regime is lying to your negotiators and that its proxies—Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and the IRGC—will not disappear because of this deal. General Jack Keane has argued that Iran is deliberately running out the clock, stretching negotiations as long as possible to get closer to U.S. elections, betting you will hesitate to resume full-scale operations the longer this drags on.
Former CIA officer Sam Faddis has bluntly stated that we are not yet hurting the regime enough to force real surrender and has laid out specific steps—choking off land routes, oil smuggling, and key financial and logistical lifelines—that have not been fully implemented.
These are not “Never Trumpers” or partisan critics. They are some of your earliest and most loyal backers on national security, and they are telling you this deal undercuts your own stated war aims.
Meanwhile, Iran’s conduct only reinforces their warnings. For decades, the regime has sponsored attacks on Americans and our allies, plotted assassinations, and targeted U.S. officials and even your own family members. Even after devastating military blows, it continues to test our resolve through its proxies and information operations. Now its state-run media are already claiming victory, boasting that the “Great Satan” has backed down.
They are not entirely wrong if this MOU proceeds as currently understood.
You have often warned the American people with the story of “The Snake,” about what happens when you ignore the true nature of a dangerous adversary. In February and early March, you applied that lesson to Iran. You recognized that this regime is the “snake,” that it will strike again if given the chance, that it uses negotiations to gain time, and that it only respects decisive force.
This agreement risks proving your own warning correct, but with America as the victim.
We understand the political pressures. Your enemies at home want you to look weak, desperate, and inconsistent so they can say you backed down and damaged U.S. credibility. But a rushed or hollow framework with Tehran will not quiet them; it will empower them, and, more importantly, empower Iran. It will hand a lifeline to a regime that should be facing increasing, not decreasing, pressure.
Mr. President, you were right when you said there should be no deal except unconditional surrender. You were right when you told the Iranian people this was their chance to overthrow an oppressive regime. You were right when you walked away from the JCPOA. After all, it was indeed a catastrophic hoax. You were right when you said Iran will never possess a nuclear weapon and that America would no longer tolerate its terror and aggression.
Do not throw that clarity away for an MOU that lets Tehran regroup and claim victory. We urge you to hit the pause button—publicly and decisively. Make the full text of this agreement public, including the so-called “gentlemen’s agreements,” subject it to intense scrutiny, and be prepared to walk away if it does not deliver what you promised the American people back in February and March. Reaffirm that the goal is not a cosmetic “peace framework,” but the end of the regime’s capacity to threaten Americans, our allies, and the Iranian people themselves.
Like the snake in your own story, Iran’s leaders will continue to show you who they are. The only real question is whether you will now act in accordance with what you already know.
With all due respect, and with an unwavering desire to see you succeed on the terms you yourself set,
From the following Members (see bios) of the Citizens Commission on National Security
Roger Aronoff, Executive Director, Editor, CCNS
Lieutenant Colonel Ken Benway (Ret.)
Colonel Richard F. (“Dick”) Brauer Jr. USAF, (Ret.)
Rand H. Fishbein, Ph.D. Former Staff Member of the U.S. Senate Defense Appropriations
Brig. Gen. Charles Jones, USAF (Ret.)
Clare Lopez, Former CIA Officer
General Paul Vallely (Ret.)
Allen B. West, Lieutenant Colonel (US Army, Ret), Member, 112th US Congress
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