Dire strait? Trump’s bid to end Iran war before midterms risks Republican anger

The terms of a purported 60-day deal to negotiate peace in the Iran war have trapped the Trump administration between mounting economic costs ahead of midterm elections and anger from Republican hawks who accuse the US government of surrendering to Iran. The public rift between Trump and Senate Republicans over his shift toward diplomacy with Iran has also been matched within his administration, where the dovish JD Vance and traditional neoconservative Marco Rubio have been forced to pirouette between Trump’s policies as he shifts to exit the war as soon as possible. US media outlets reported on Thursday that US and Iranian negotiators had reached an agreement on a 60-day memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would extend a ceasefire and launch negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme. But Iran has not confirmed a deal, and skirmishes have increased in the strait of Hormuz. The reported conditions for the negotiations appear to favour Washington even as Tehran has indicated it would demand further concessions to open the strategic waterway. If that deal has been made, the White House is not in a rush to ink it, as Donald Trump seeks to cushion the political blowback of an interim agreement to start negotiations with the Iranians. “The president relayed to the mediators that he wants a couple of days to think about it,” a US official told Axios. …