Four months after Operation Epic Fury began, the Middle East and the West are focused on a 14-point agreement, unveiled Tuesday by the Trump administration, referred to as “memo of understanding” between the U.S. and Iran.
A signing ceremony that was days away in Geneva will likely still be held but with less fanfare after President Donald Trump, at the G7 summit, signed the document (pictured below) Wednesday.
Diplomats and negotiators are expected to meet Friday for “initial negotiations” to implement the agreement, the Swiss government announced Thursday.
After expressing concern for months about Operation Epic Fury, namely what comes after the bombing stops, Robert Maginnis tells American Family News his concerns haven’t diminished.
“I am concerned that we've never been able to trust the Iranians one bit over the last 47 years,” Maginnis said, referring to the rise of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his Islamic regime.
After reviewing that agreement, Maginnis’ skepticism mirrors the view of many expressing surprise and even dismay that Trump appears triumphant over a deal in which the murderous Iran regime is being treated like a respectable and trusted international partner.
“Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” the U.S. president, referring to commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, stated in Truth Social post June 14.
The price of crude oil, in particular West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, has plummeted greatly as the promise of a war-free Gulf of Oman positively affected stock markets worldwide. The price-per-barrel of WTI, which jumped to $112 in April, has dropped to $73 per barrel today, June 18.
"We're on a good path to reopening the Strait of Hormuz,” Maginnis agrees, “which is good news for businessmen around the world.”
From a political view, Maginnis says he is sympathetic the White House and Republicans in Congress are hoping a peaceful Strait helps the Unites States, too, by reversing inflation and lowering energy prices.
If that happens in coming weeks and months, Maginnis says, that sends a “very clear message that Mr. Trump is a leader that ends wars and ends threats, like nuclear threats, against the United States."
Looking at the specific agreement, however, Maginnis tells AFN his main concern is over Iran’s “nuclear ambitions” that go back decades and have not ended. That key issue is “largely deferred” to future negotiations when it should be the main issue, he argues.
A second concern is Iran’s regime, which has been crippled financially, will benefit from “significant economic benefits” very early on in the negotiating process.
That economic pressure is the “leverage” the Trump administration can use to its advantage, Maginnis says, so surrendering it quickly hurts the U.S.
Iran is losing about $500 million daily, Iranian-born Sargis Sangari, another national defense analyst, told AFN in a related story.
A third concern expressed by Maginnis is Iran’s “proxy network” of military militias, such as Hezbollah, that create violence and instability across the Middle East with financing from Tehran.
"I am cautiously optimistic because diplomacy is preferable to war,” Maginnis says. “Yet I remain mindful that history is filled with agreements that postponed crises rather than resolved them.”
