Washington, DC \u2013 A few months ago, it would have been unthinkable for a mainstream politician in the United States \u2014 let alone a Republican senator \u2014 to acknowledge Iran\u2019s right to self-defence.<\/p>\n
But on Wednesday, that\u2019s exactly what Senator Roger Marshall did. \u201cI think that they have to be able to defend themselves,\u201d he told the news channel CNN.<\/p>\n
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Analysts say such statements are a sign of shifting attitudes in the US. This week, in the wake of President Donald Trump agreeing to<\/a> a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran, some Republicans appear to have dulled their hawkishness.<\/p>\n Still, many pro-Israel groups and politicians<\/a> are starting to mobilise against the deal, setting up a potential clash with the White House and those seeking a speedy end to the US-Israel war with Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cDonald Trump can sell pretty much anything to his hardcore base,\u201d said Matthew Duss, the executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, a research and advocacy nonprofit.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he says the Iran war is going great one day and then reverses himself completely and says we\u2019re signing a deal to end the war the next day, there\u2019s a big part of his base that will just go along with it, and they will get angry at anyone who publicly disagrees.\u201d<\/p>\n Even so, Duss stressed that pro-Israel groups and politicians are still \u201cvery upset\u201d with the memorandum.<\/p>\n An unpopular war<\/p>\n The terms of the deal have trickled out slowly since last Thursday<\/a>, when Trump first teased that the \u201cfinal points\u201d of a ceasefire agreement had been \u201capproved by all parties\u201d.<\/p>\n Only on Wednesday did the memorandum\u2019s 14 points become public.<\/p>\n But the gradual rollout has only partly shielded the memo from hawkish criticism. Another factor is that\u00a0Republicans are largely reluctant to cross Trump, who has a track record of confronting and defeating<\/a> dissidents within the party.<\/p>\n Even some of the most vocal pro-Israel hawks have refrained from taking on Trump since the terms were announced.<\/p>\n Senator Lindsey Graham, an ardent cheerleader<\/a> for the war, said the memorandum \u201cwill be beneficial\u201d for the US.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether or not the United States can reach an acceptable, verifiable deal with Iran regarding its nuclear program and other issues is yet to be determined, but I see little downside to trying,\u201d Graham said in a social media post on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Overall, the Republicans have been far more tolerant of the initial agreement than of the 2015 nuclear deal signed by then-US President Barack Obama, a Democrat.<\/p>\n Unlike that agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the current memorandum aims to resolve an active war. The US and Israel started bombing Iran on February 28 without direct provocation.<\/p>\n Public opinion polls have underscored widespread US disapproval towards\u00a0the conflict<\/a>, which has also boosted the case for diplomacy in some conservative sectors.<\/p>\n The fighting saw Iran close down the Strait of Hormuz, sending global oil prices soaring. In the US, that has fuelled inflation<\/a> and economic uncertainty, factors that could weigh on Republican prospects in the upcoming midterm elections.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen the cost of war. We\u2019ve seen that war is not an easy solution. We\u2019ve seen that it has major economic impacts on Americans, and that Americans are opposed to it,\u201d said Ryan Costello, the policy director at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), a nonprofit lobbying organisation.<\/p>\n Inside the memorandum<\/p>\n The memo, signed on Wednesday, dictates a regional ceasefire to end the war, mandating that fighting stop not only in Iran but in Lebanon as well.<\/p>\n The deal will see Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz and the US lift its siege against the country. Tehran also reiterated its long-standing position that it will not pursue nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n In exchange for that assurance, Iran will receive some economic relief. The US is set to lift sanctions against Iran\u2019s energy exports, which will increase global supply and help bring down oil prices.<\/p>\n Iran will also see the release of billions of dollars of its own assets that have been frozen by sanctions, though the memorandum does not provide a specific timeline or mechanism for freeing the funds.<\/p>\n It does, however, promise a $300bn investment<\/a> and reconstruction fund for Iran.<\/p>\n The preliminary deal does not resolve the thorny issue of whether Iran\u2019s uranium enrichment programme will be allowed to continue. That is slated for future talks, set to take place over the next 60 days.<\/p>\n It also does not mention a single word about Tehran\u2019s missile programme, one of the stated reasons for the US-Israel war against the country.<\/p>\n Limiting Iran\u2019s missile capacity has been a key goal for Israel for years, but Tehran has ruled out any concessions.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Trump said \u201cmissiles aren\u2019t the problem\u201d and suggested that the issue could be addressed as part of regional security talks.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat am I going to do? Am I going to let Saudi Arabia have missiles, but they [Iran] can\u2019t have them? It doesn\u2019t work that way,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n But previously, Trump had advocated for limiting Iran\u2019s arsenal. Costello said Trump\u2019s sudden shift is disorienting.<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump last week was sounding more like John Bolton,\u201d he said, referring to the former US official who is known for promoting military interventions.<\/p>\n \u201cThen, this week, he is sounding more like John Mearsheimer<\/a>\u201c, Costello added, pointing to the realist political scientist.<\/p>\n Ted Cruz slams deal<\/p>\n Costello explained that, while some Republicans are falling in line with Trump\u2019s pivot, others are testing whether they might oppose the president\u2019s diplomacy with Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a crowd that\u2019s trying to see how open they can be in opposition to this, not just the memorandum of understanding, but everything that\u2019s envisioned from it, which is a pretty significant resolution of tensions with Iran,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Senator Ted Cruz, who called the deal \u201cill-advised\u201d, falls into that camp.<\/p>\n \u201cHistory teaches that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea. I think the president is receiving some very poor advice on this deal,\u201d Cruz told the publication The Hill earlier this week.<\/p>\n Pro-Israel commentators, like Fox News\u2019s Mark Levin, also described the memorandum as a \u201ccapitulation to Iran and Hezbollah\u201d.<\/p>\n Levin, who had heaped praise on Trump in recent months for launching the war<\/a>, implicitly criticised the US president over his comments on Iran\u2019s missiles.<\/p>\n \u201cIran\u2019s ballistic missiles have always been a major issue, and in fact, the administration talked about the regime building a circle of protection around its nuclear facilities with ballistic missiles,\u201d Levin wrote in a post on the social media platform X.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd, no, if other countries have ballistic missiles, Iran should not. Iran is a terrorist regime that has killed our people, how many more times do we need to be reminded of this.\u201d<\/p>\n He later pointedly denounced US Vice President JD Vance<\/a>, who has been the key US negotiator with Iran.<\/p>\n The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a think tank that has been promoting military action against Iran, rejected the deal as well, saying that the memorandum guarantees the survival of the governing system in Iran and allows it to rebuild itself after the US-Israeli strikes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran hands the terrorist regime the one victory it could never have achieved on the battlefield. Financial reprieve,\u201d two FDD representatives wrote in a New York Post column.<\/p>\n The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) also released a lengthy statement with detailed explanations of what it sees as failures in the memorandum, including the sanctions relief and a lack of restrictions on Iran\u2019s missiles and its support for regional groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.<\/p>\n