US denies peace deal favours Iran

**Nick Miles** (0:00)
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
I'm Nick Miles, and in the early hours of Friday, the 19th of June, these are our main stories. The US Vice President defends the US Iran deal against accusations that it gives too many concessions to Iran. Iran says Washington only agreed to the deal out of desperation. In Britain, the winner of a by-election could spell trouble for the British Prime Minister. Andy Burnham is now expected to challenge Keir Starmer for the top job. Also, in this podcast, a pivotal moment in Cuba as the president introduces sweeping liberal economic reforms and how honey beans refine their diet to create the right mix of food for their larvae.

**Geraldine Wright** (0:44)
Their solution to this problem is not dissimilar to the one that we use to feed our own children. They create glandular secretion, which is the same as milk.

**Nick Miles** (0:59)
We start with more reaction to the Iran-U.S. Memorandum of Understanding that was signed digitally more than 24 hours ago.
The Trump administration has faced accusations that it made far too many concessions to Tehran. But the vice president has told a news conference that the accord is already beginning to bear fruit. JD Vance says millions of barrels of oil have already flowed through the Strait of Hormuz. And the Trump administration is firmly in control of negotiations in the days to come.

**JD Vance** (1:28)
Whether the Iranians comply with the rest of the deal or not, their nuclear program has been completely destroyed. Their capacity for enrichment, the facilities at which they were using to develop enrichment and develop a potential nuclear weapon, those facilities are still destroyed. Their conventional military is still destroyed. Their capacity to threaten their neighbors is still largely gone. And now we see whether they are willing to comply with the next step of the president's peace plan.

**Nick Miles** (1:54)
That is not how Iran's supreme leader, the Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei sees it. In a statement which has been voiced by one of our producers, he said Washington only agreed to the deal because it was desperate.

**Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei** (2:05)
In the course of reaching this stage, the officials in charge, out of sincere concern and goodwill, made extensive efforts. And of course, it was the American president who out of desperation used all kinds of leverage to bring this about.
I, as a matter of principle, held a different view. However, out of the commitment that the esteemed Iranian president, as the head of the Supreme National Security Council, gave to me regarding the safeguarding of the rights of the Iranian nation and the resistance front and his explicit acceptance of that responsibility, I granted my permission.

**Nick Miles** (2:39)
In the previous podcast, we heard the BBC's Lee's Doucette's take on the deal. I got more analysis from our international editor, Jeremy Bowen. So who's got the upper hand going into the next stage of talks?

**Jeremy Bowen** (2:52)
I think that if you go point by point through the Memorandum of Understanding, a pretty logical reading of it would suggest that Iran is probably ahead. And that is because the framework is, in a sense, a picture of the strategic defeat that the Americans have had.
Many tactical victories, and that's why they have depleted Iran's capacity in so many ways. But Iran used a weapon it hasn't really used before, which is to block the Strait of Hormuz. And they discovered that having a chokehold on the world economy is actually an immensely powerful position to be in. And Trump needs to do something about that. And this requires concessions.

**Nick Miles** (3:32)
The Supreme Leader of Iran has said, we will not give in to excessive demands in these talks are going to follow. What is excessive in Tehran's mind?

**Jeremy Bowen** (3:41)
A key for them is that they retain the right to enrich uranium. I think it's pretty clear that they will accept what's known as a down blending of their enriched uranium, including the uranium which is enriched close to weapons grade. It's essentially diluted. But the principle of being able to enrich, even if the next series of enrichment is put off by five years or even more, that for them is really important. And if they can get a really attractive economic package, lots of sanctions relief, total sanctions relief is being promised actually, Iranian funds unfrozen, that sort of thing, then that makes it attractive. But you know what? There are loads of spoilers. That's the issue.

**Nick Miles** (4:23)
And talk us through one of those spoilers, which isn't specific to Iran and the United States. It refers to Lebanon, which is also part of this memorandum of understanding.