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Political commentator Bill O’Reilly said Wednesday the Trump administration reaching a deal with Iran is “plan B” after the war did not turn out as President Trump and his team intended.
“This is plan B,” O’Reilly told host Chris Cuomo on NewsNation’s “Cuomo.”
“So plan A didn’t work. Plan A was kill the leadership and the people will rise up and we’ll get rid of them once and for all. It didn’t work,” he added, referring to Trump calling on the Iranian people to overthrow the Islamic Republic regime in the early days of the conflict.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Wednesday the 14-point memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the U.S. and Iran will take “immediate effect” after Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed it earlier in the day.
Sharif initially said Wednesday that a signing ceremony for the deal would still take place on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland. The Pakistani leader, however, deleted and then reshared the post without any mention of Friday’s signing, according to The Associated Press .
The two sides may still meet for the next phase of talks on Iran’s nuclear program this weekend.
The MOU, which the administration released on Wednesday, calls for an end to hostilities “on all fronts,” including Israel’i’s military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Under the MOU, the U.S. would also end its naval blockade of Iranian ports within 30 days. Iran, meanwhile, would reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 30 days.
Additionally, the U.S. and regional partners would establish a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran, tied to nuclear concessions. The administration would also unfreeze Iranian assets and lift sanctions on Tehran, including on its oil exports as soon as the deal takes effect.
Trump said Wednesday the U.S. is “not investing” in the fund, which he noted Iran only has access to if “if they’re doing things right.”
Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns about the deal, accusing the administration of granting Iran concessions on its nuclear program and its stockpile of ballistic missiles.
The MOU sets up further talks between the two sides, with a 60-day window to hammer out some of the key provisions. Trump said on Wednesday that was not a “hard deadline.”
O’Reilly, though, said the deal is the “best thing” for the U.S. given the economic impacts of the war. The Iranian military’s restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has resulted in gas prices stateside rising above $4 per gallon.
“That should have been when you war game, what’s the downside? What’s the unintended consequence? All of the Hormuz stuff, okay, should have been in that equation,” he told Cuomo, referring to the Pentagon’s considerations before the war.
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Bill O'Reilly
Chris Cuomo
Masoud Pezeshkian
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