US political figures from both left and right have voiced fresh objections to Donald Trump's provisional deal with Iran, even as the president made new threats and Vice-President JD Vance hailed progress during the first round of direct peace talks in Switzerland. Negotiations in Lucerne have already run into difficulties after Trump wrote on Truth Social that Iran must immediately stop its proxies in Lebanon, warning that if they do not, the US would hit Iran very hard again.
Iran's negotiators reportedly walked out of the building where the talks were being held, according to Iran's state news agency IRNA. The agency said the delegation left after meeting with the Qatari delegation, one of the mediating parties, and cited Trump's threatening message on X as a factor.
In the US, Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, posted a line from a Wall Street Journal article highlighting how rogue regimes evade US economic warfare, amplifying his earlier remarks that the US should have finished the job of eliminating Iran's hostile nuclear capability before striking a deal. Senior Democratic figure Susan Rice described the agreement as a 'jaw-dropping, horrific surrender', calling it 'flimsy' and 'egregious' because of the concessions granted upfront.
Rice pointed to a provision allowing Iran to sell all its oil and oil products unimpeded, ahead of any nuclear agreement. She contrasted this with the Obama-era deal, which did not lift sanctions until a full agreement was reached and restricted frozen assets to humanitarian purposes. The New York Post published a withering editorial headlined 'With Strait of Hormuz held hostage, Trump's Iran deal is worse than Obama's'.
Senator Cory Booker rejected giving Trump credit for ending the war, comparing him to an arsonist who starts a fire and then takes credit for running out of the burning building. He said the US had surrendered its power and that Iran was mocking the nation.
