Trump's Iran deal greeted with skepticism and scrutiny on Capitol Hill
[June 16, 2026]
By MARY CLARE JALONICK, LISA MASCARO and JOEY CAPPELLETTI
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans on Capitol Hill said Monday they need more
information about the agreement between the United States and Iran
announced by President Donald Trump, and some are expressing skepticism
as they ask the White House for details.
The agreement announced Sunday to end the war in Iran, set for a
ceremonial signing Friday in Geneva, is centered around reopening the
Strait of Hormuz and lifting the United States’ naval blockade in the
region, along with financial incentives for Iran if it meets certain
benchmarks. But Senate Republicans and Democrats who returned to
Washington on Monday said there were still many unanswered questions
about the deal and they need thorough briefings before it is finalized.
“I just don’t know enough about it,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune,
R-S.D., told reporters in the Capitol. “Even the people who follow this
stuff closely up here don’t know that much about it.”
Congressional leaders and intelligence committees generally receive
higher-level intelligence briefings before rank-and-file members, and
they are notified of major developments before they are announced. But
Thune said he had not been personally briefed on the deal.
“I think that my understanding of what it entails — and, again, not
having seen anything — it would require, I think the issues are going to
be compliance, and how are you going to enforce that,” Thune said.
Thune’s concerns were echoed by several other GOP senators.
“If it’s a secret deal then how can I take it seriously?” asked
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
Vice President JD Vance told ABC News on Monday that the White House
would release the text this week, “and what everybody will see is that
Iran doesn’t get a dime of money unless they perform their obligations.”
Senators have questions about details
Trump has not yet explained how his agreement will address Iran’s
nuclear program, including who will be in charge of verifying that Iran
is in compliance and who will destroy or remove highly enriched uranium
believed to be buried under nuclear sites that were badly damaged by
U.S. strikes last summer.
A memorandum of understanding also includes the possibility of releasing
Iran’s frozen funds, sanctions relief and a $300 billion fund to help
rebuild Iran if Tehran meets certain benchmarks, senior U.S. officials
told reporters Monday. But the document has not been released.
Thune said he wants to know more about the conditions on the financial
incentives for Iran. He said the deal would be a “good one” if the
incentives are conditioned upon Iran winding down its nuclear program
and getting rid of the enriched uranium, “preventing them from having a
nuclear capability in the future.”
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said he is hopeful but “until you see the
final document, it’s hard to make an assessment.”
“I go into it very skeptical of the government of Iran,” Kennedy said.
“They learn to lie before they learn to talk. So any agreement we make
with them has to have guardrails. It has to have a way to judge through
independent inspection if they’re doing what they say they’re doing.”
Senate could have a vote
Under the Iran nuclear agreement review act passed by Congress during
the Obama era, any deal the U.S. reaches concerning Iran’s nuclear
material must be submitted within a certain amount of time to Congress
for review. But it is up to Congress whether that happens — it is not
required.
President Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, known as the
JCPOA, was submitted for what’s called a vote of disapproval in the
Senate. The outcome did not roll back the agreement, but put the
senators on record with their support or opposition.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump and a longtime hawk on Iran,
has appeared skeptical over the emerging agreement. He said he is
“pulling for a deal” but Congress will need to review and vote on it,
and he wants to see the memorandum that the two countries have agreed
on.
“The way Iran describes it, it’s awful. The way we describe it, it makes
sense to me,” Graham, R-S.C., said. “Let’s look at it and see what it
actually is.”
Graham has said he wants Vance, whom he called “the architect of the
deal,” to present it to lawmakers.
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President Donald Trump waves to reporters as he arrives for the G7
summit, Monday, June 15, 2026, in Evian-les-Bains, France. (AP
Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Vance responded to Graham on Monday, saying in the interview with
ABC that he would “caution Lindsey Graham and anybody else not to
believe the hard-liner propaganda in Iran, but to believe what’s
actually in the agreement.”
Even though Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is the son
of the last supreme leader, and Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary
Guard still has significant authority in Iran, Vance told CNN in a
separate interview that “fundamentally, it is a much different group
of people.” He insisted that the conflict had unlocked much more
direct communication with high-level Iranian officials and that the
relationship was “fundamentally transformed.”
Next steps in Congress unclear
Most Senate Republicans said they want to review the deal, but it
was still unclear whether they would have a vote, or if Congress
could pass it.
Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri said he doesn’t think an
up-or-down vote is necessary.
“You have the camp that wants us to lose and then you have a camp
that wants a forever war,” Schmitt said. “President Trump’s not in
either one of those camps, and neither am I.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said he expects the Senate will get the
final say. But he praised Trump for making “the single most
consequential decision of his presidency” by attacking Iran.
“I think he made America safer,” Cruz said. “The president as
commander in chief acted decisively to stop that ayatollah from
getting nuclear weapons.”
Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican who serves on the
Intelligence Committee, said he expects there are still many more
steps to the process before any package would come to Congress for
review.
“Seems like early reports are showing that this is kind of the first
step,” he said. “Once we have a final agreement, we need to take it
up and pass it. … If you want a long-term agreement it’s got to be
law.”
Democrats ask what has changed
Democrats questioned how the deal will improve upon the U.S.
position before the war — and how it differs from Obama’s 2015
nuclear deal.
“For all his critique of JCPOA, we had international observers, we
actually had an alliance there that included the Europeans, and
Russia and China were all signatories,” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner,
the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, told CBS’ “Face the
Nation” on Sunday.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said there are more questions than
answers, including what happens to the Iranian nuclear program and
sanctions on Iranian oil.
Trump has spent “tens of billions of dollars” and service members
and Iranians have died, “and he still cannot explain how one family
in Massachusetts is better off,” Warren said.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said an end to what has been a
costly and unpopular war would be a good resolution, but he wants to
hear more details.
“An off ramp is good because it was a war that should have never
been started,” he said.
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Associated Press writers Michelle Price in Washington and Bill
Barrow in Alpharetta, Georgia, contributed to this report.
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