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Key figures in President Donald Trump's circle —CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth— have expressed concerns about whether Iran will meet the nuclear commitments outlined in the memorandum of understanding signed on Sunday, June 15, according to a report by Axios and covered by The Telegraph.
The agreement was announced by Trump on the same day—his 80th birthday—as the end of the armed conflict that began on February 28, 2026, with Operation Epic Fury, coordinated attacks between the U.S. and Israel against Iranian military and nuclear facilities.
U.S. intelligence is reported to have detected that Iranian officials were discussing the agreement among themselves in a way that was inconsistent with what they communicated to the mediators and Washington's negotiation team. An anonymous source bluntly summarized it: "Intelligence reflects that Iranian intentions are not aligned with their commitments under the agreement".
The text of the memorandum —which is just a page and a half long, as stated by Vice President JD Vance to CNN— is deliberately vague and does not specify Iran's concrete commitments regarding its enriched uranium stockpile.
Instead of technical specifications, the document simply states in general terms that Iran "reiterates that it will never produce nuclear weapons," the same phrasing used in the nuclear agreement of the Obama administration in 2015.
Officials from the Trump administration acknowledged that the text is "incredibly vague" and was conceived as a "political document" for Iran to present favorably to its domestic audience.
According to these officials, the actual commitments—such as the involvement of the U.S. in the destruction of enriched material under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency— were communicated through confidential channels and are not included in the document.
"What's more important than the document itself are the understandings we have between us," one of the officials told CNN, adding that the agreement "basically states that we will lift sanctions, make a nuclear deal, and unfreeze funds. But we will lift sanctions according to progress."
In March 2026, international inspectors made public a report warning that Iran possessed approximately 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% purity, a quantity sufficient to manufacture 10 nuclear weapons according to experts.
The agreement clearly outlines the financial benefits for Iran: access to a $300 billion reconstruction fund financed by regional powers—not by the U.S., as Trump and Vance emphasize—immediate lifting of oil sanctions, and the unfreezing of assets conditioned on progress in negotiations.
In turn, Vance defended the framework on Fox News with a sweeping statement: "We have fundamentally transformed the Middle East, whether they comply or not. This is just the icing on the cake, assuming they do everything right."
The secrecy surrounding the text has generated criticism even among Trump's allies. The Republican Senate leader, John Thune, said on Tuesday that he hoped to "get more information, more details." The Democratic leader Chuck Schumer was more direct: "The American people deserve details and full transparency. What have we really gained from Trump's war?"
Israel, which participated alongside the U.S. at the onset of the conflict, requested to see the text of the agreement but was denied by the Trump administration, indicating a growing rift between the allies. Qatar and Pakistan acted as mediators throughout the process.
The official in-person signing is scheduled for this Friday in Switzerland, with Vance in attendance, at which time the complete text is expected to be published. This event will open a 60-day window for in-person technical negotiations between delegations from both countries, which the Trump administration describes as a trial period to assess Iran's seriousness.
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