Is Trump's Iran deal a strategic blow for the U.S.?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**SPEAKER_2** (0:16)
WBUR Podcasts, Boston.

**Jon Finer** (0:21)
I think the administration had really no choice but to take the best deal available, but that's very different from saying it's a good outcome for the United States.

**Chris Bentley** (0:29)
Reaction to the plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and maybe end America's war on Iran. What did the US really get after all the bombs and bloodshed?
It's Monday, June 15th, and this is Here and Now Anytime from NPR and WBUR. I'm Chris Bentley. Today on the show, Russia's war in Ukraine has gone on longer than World War I. Where does it stand?

**Rob Lee** (1:05)
Both sides are trying to get this advantage, and he kind of decides to advantage it in game. And right now, Ukraine has the upper hand.

**Chris Bentley** (1:10)
Also, Ireland did not qualify for the World Cup, but the Ivory Coast did. One Irish pub in Scotland decided to capitalise on the similarity of the two countries' flags, becoming a Cote d'Ivoire fan club for as long as they stay in the tournament.

**Ruairi O'Neill** (1:27)
We were flooded with messages from all Ivoryans all over the world, and we just wish this was real. This seems like a great idea.

**Chris Bentley** (1:36)
Turns out they love Guinness in Abidjan, almost as much as they do in Dublin.
But first, the leaders of the US and Iran say they will sign a deal Friday to end a blockade of Iranian ports and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The text of the deal, officially a Memorandum of Understanding, has not yet been released. And the most difficult part of the negotiation is still ahead. The MOU is essentially a promise to resolve all of the main issues — nuclear material, sanctions, shipping — in further negotiations over the next two months. And whatever reprieve it might bring in the war is tentative, in part because there appears to be disagreement about whether or not the deal with Iran covers Israel's war in Lebanon. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told us Israel could complicate or even sabotage negotiations between the US and Iran going forward.

**Leon Panetta** (2:35)
I think Israel is very unpredictable at this point. They were preparing additional attacks. The president had to call Netanyahu and tell him not to do it at this moment.
And very frankly, because of Israel, I think the United States then rushed quickly to try to nail down the agreement.

**Chris Bentley** (2:58)
More from Panetta at hereandnow.org.
We also spoke with Jon Finer, a former National Security Advisor under President Biden. He was on the team that negotiated the Obama administration's 2015 deal to limit and monitor Iran's nuclear program, an agreement that President Trump walked away from when he first took office nine years ago. Finer spoke with Indira Laxmanan.

**Indira Laxmanan** (3:23)
So Washington and Tehran are both touting this agreement as a victory, but reopening the Strait of Hormuz is simply where we were before the war started. President Trump cited several reasons for the war. He was going to destroy Iran's nuclear program, end its missile program, change the regime that has oppressed the Iranian people for so long. None of those things has happened. So I have to ask, has Iran just won this war?

**Jon Finer** (3:50)
This is a strategic failure for the United States, Indira, and it gives me no pleasure to say that. As you just laid out on the terms that the administration itself set for this conflict, changing Iran's regime, dealing with Iran's nuclear program in a definitive way, none of that has been accomplished. And in the meantime, the most important outcome strategically right now is that Iran has learned a very valuable lesson from this war, which is that it has the ability to hold the entire global economy at risk by closing the Strait of Hormuz anytime it chooses to do that. They may have thought that that was an option available to them, but they had never done it in this way. And now they know how to do it. And this is something that the world will be contending with for quite some time. So I think the administration had really no choice but to take the best deal available. But that's very different from saying it's a good outcome for the United States.

**Indira Laxmanan** (4:42)
All right, Jon, there's no agreement yet on what happens to Iran's nuclear program. Reportedly, the two sides will take 60 days to negotiate something that took more than two years for the Obama administration's team that you were part of. Is 60 days realistic? And has Iran agreed to cease all enrichment of uranium?