BREAKING: Vance Goes on Record Over Iran Deal

We got breaking news. As the deal is signed, JD Vance goes on record. Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Secular. We want to hear from you.

Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Secular. The Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by President Trump. That happened just really a few hours ago, but overnight that happened. That was at Versailles, where it was signed.

And now we have the agreement, and at the same time, we have Vice President Vance currently, right now, as we are live, taking questions from reporters specifically on the Iran deal. We know he has been heading up a lot of this and taking a lot of flack for it. Look, I know you guys have a lot of questions or comments about this. Maybe some positive, maybe some negatives.

Okay, give me a call: 1-800-684-3110. I want to hear from you. You're as much a part of this show today. It's just me and you today. We'll have Rick Rinnell joining us a little bit later.

But let's break it all down. We're going to go through it point by point, discuss it, and then at the very end of the show, we're actually going to have Will Haynes read you pretty much the entire. Plan and what it looks like, and give you a little commentary as well.

So you're going to actually hear it word for word. I think that's very important. That'll be at the very end of the show. But I think we should start off again. Vice President Vance is speaking right now.

This just happened moments ago. Let's go, pipe 13. You're hoping this deal would prevent Iran in the future from getting a nuclear weapon. But from what's been put out there of the MOU, I'm curious how does the MOU reflect that in the future Iran will not in fact get a nuclear weapon? What's stopping them from down the road, to your point, rebuilding and restarting from where we were pre-the-war?

Well, number one, they would have to get a lot of money in order to rebuild their nuclear program. You're talking about billions and billions of nuclear infrastructure that the United States destroyed. In order for them to rebuild that program, they would have to get a lot of money. And we have them in an economic chokehold right now that we're not going to release until they fundamentally change their behavior. What would that look like?

That would mean a real inspections regime. That would mean a real enforcement regime. As the MOU contemplates, that would mean the destruction of their enriched stockpile. All of these things are the sorts of steps you're going to take if you're serious about ending your nuclear weapons program. And that, again, is why I go back to this fundamental trade that's built into the deal.

They need money to do anything. Their economy is. In absolute dire straits. But in order for them to get any integration into the world economy, they're going to have to show us and verify for us that they are changing their behavior. And that's why the deal is set up in the way that it is.

I think that's maybe one of the big fundamental misunderstandings that's happening within this. Again, that was J.D. Vance. He is currently still speaking, by the way, on this topic right now from the White House. This is happening in real time, and we're making sure we're covering it.

If anything needs to come in right now, it's kind of like question and answer time. We're going to have some more statements from him coming up throughout the show as well from President Trump and others. Again, I think one of the big misunderstandings of this is how the financial part of this is going to work. You're seeing that $300 billion number be thrown around a lot. And what they're not saying is, of course, any sort of investment, we're not talking about, again, American taxpayer investment.

We're talking about even just investments from the world stage. Would have to be at a point where Iran is showing that they have changed and continue to change. It's not like, here's a check, go ahead and do what you want to do. There's a lot of conversations. Look, I think there's good and bad here.

I don't want to sugarcoat it and act like we think that all of this is good, but I do think there's a little bit more blue sky than people are showing. And even the conservative press, there's some good in this. Do I think it's the perfect deal? No, but again, it's also not the final deal. It is still the memorandum of understanding that has been signed.

A final deal will still come 30 plus days from now. And that is if Iran sticks to what they agreed to, which again is essentially Holding on any sort of enrichment, any sort of nuclear, pretty much staying the status quo, which at this point is at zero. due to the original attacks. And we obviously have to see how Israel reacts. We have to see how all this reacts.

We have a lot of commentary to go through, but I want to hear from you: 1-800-684-3110. Again, the signed memorandum of understanding with Iran happened late last night, and it happened at Versailles. With French President Emmanuel Macron sitting right next to President Trump. As he's set to return to the United States today.

So that is just an interesting. Visual to think about the fact that this deal happened in the Palace of Versailles. What a world we live in, folks. 1-800. And what a President Trump kind of move.

1-800-684-3110. I do want to hear from you. If you're watching online, let me know in the comments right now where you're watching from. Be a part of the show today. at ACLJ.org.

Support the work if you can. Yeah, yeah. Welcome back to Sekulow. Of course, phone lines are open for you, and I want to hear from you. As you may know, the agreement has been signed.

President Trump signed it late last night at the Palace of Versailles. I want to break down some of the The information that has come out from it. We'll go through some of the details, but I also want to not ignore right now that JD Vance, who has taken a lot of credit or maybe a lot of blame, depending on what side you're on, for this deal. is talking right now as we speak about this.

So, I think we should hear from Vice President Vance. And then we get done with this bit. I'll also break down some of the big talking points, the big sticking, you know, I'd say the headlines. And then later on in the show, we got Rick Rinnell joining us. He'll give us an insight.

And then the end of the show, I want to make sure you hear the deal yourself.

So, Will Haynes put together a great video package our team did with Will, where Will just broke it all down, read it essentially word for word for you.

So, you're not going to want to miss that. That's going to be at the very end of the show. Between now and then, though, I want to take your calls at 1-800-684-3110. I want to know what you think of this signed agreement now that we've all seen it. But let's hear again from Vice President Vance, and then we're going to break more down.

Now, what I would say to some of the critics of the deal that I've heard that will say, well, Iran's going to get all this benefit. I'll repeat what I've said, and I'm probably going to have to repeat it a number of times: is what is the benefit that the Iranians get that they didn't have before? And the answer is nothing. They don't get anything unless they change their behavior. If they change their behavior, that is a thing to celebrate.

That's going to transform the Middle East for a generation. If they don't change their behavior, they don't get the benefit of the bargain. And I think I gotta be honest, I think fundamentally Fundamentally, this idea that And it's a misrepresentation of the MOU. This idea that the Iranians get all these benefits before the deal is actually consummated. The idea that they get benefits before they change their behavior is fundamentally a talking point that is issued by people who want the conflict to continue indefinitely, despite the fact that that's not good for the American people and it's not good for the region.

I think the idea here is: look, if we're not going to have the full-blown regime change of which we thought was, how do you do that from the inside out?

So, of course, you get rid of. I think there's some good here. You got rid of some really, really bad people. You got rid of the Ayatollah. You got rid of a lot of the pretty much the entire top-line government.

And now you have a government that maybe. And I'm being very hesitant on the maybe. Is willing to work with you and work on a global stage. You have a straight of hormones opening. You're going to have oil prices drop.

That's going to happen. It's, you know, as long as this deal sticks, that's going to happen in the next number of weeks. We know oil prices already dropped, but I'm talking about specifically for you at the pump. We know that is going to happen. But look, President Trump wanted this war to be over.

I think that is very clear. Did not want it to keep going on. I mean, the first. paragraph of This memorandum of understanding, I'll read for you. It says, The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran and their allies in the current war by signing this MOU, again, that's people are using the MOU pretty regularly now.

Memorandum of Understanding, a deal memo. If you will, declare the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and undertake from now on not to initiate any war or any military action against each other and to refrain from the threat of use of force against each other and ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon. The final deal would confirm the permanent termination of the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon. And other provisions that go on in that paragraph.

So starting off strong, starting off with. Not only is this war ending, so is Lebanon. You can't even threaten war. And this agreement ends.

Now, think about that. How often did we have the Ayatollah going on on social media, on X? Giving these wide open threats all the time to the United States of America and to Israel.

So essentially that's saying that that would violate this term.

So if you have leadership that's just even willing to threaten.

Now, you could probably say the same for President Trump. He has been willing to threaten quite a bit. And sometimes take action when needed.

Now, in conversations with Israel, Israel kind of has said. That they don't necessarily know that this interferes with their conversation or their conflicts with Lebanon.

However, if the US cannot get involved, That is going to limit how Israel responds. And that now is an interesting little piece that Iran has. in this agreement saying well If you go support Israel, And help them when they're attacking us or attacking one of our neighbors here, supporters.

Well, then the deal is off as well.

So again, I'm going to tell you when there's good and bad in this, where I think there could be some interesting parts. Here's another one: the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran undertake to respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity and refrain from interfering in each other's internal affairs.

Well, what does that look like? That means we're talking about the regime change concept. We're essentially letting that one be. In saying We're going to, you stay out of our business, we'll stay out of your business.

Now again, all of this is a memorandum of understanding. And it's an interesting point. I do want to go ahead and take a phone call. Let's go to John, who's calling from California, who's watching on the Salem News channel. Go ahead, John.

Hello, my name's John. Yeah, I was just making a point that Trump's a crafty box and Trust him. He knows what he's doing. Um He just outwits our opponents and some of the Republicans They're just not crafty enough. They're playing checkers.

He knows how to play chess. He keeps. two or three moves ahead. is a very smart move. They can't do anything right now.

Okay. Yeah, if anything, John, it it definitely pushes back. any sort of deal. I think that the deal Long term, we'll learn whether we feel like it is excellent or not. JD Vance actually just said people will realize this deal is excellent long term.

That was his probably final, one of his final comments before just exiting the stage right now at the White House. He'd been speaking for a good, what, 40 minutes or so, 45 minutes, taking questions about the deal in Iran. And of course, one of the big sticking points is the removal of the naval blockade for any impediment for the Strait of Hormuz or any of that.

So you're going to have. a little bit more open.

Now, that's good for America, but look, let's just be honest, that's good for China, that's good for Russia, that's good for other countries as well. It's not just great for America. I do think there is some political pressure here. And President Trump was seeing where the American people were standing, and maybe it wasn't exactly where he thought.

Now, I do think that this is crafty, as our caller just said. It is not a good or bad necessarily deal There's good and bad in it, but I do think that not to be an apologist for this administration. You know, I never am like that in terms of that. But I am willing to look a step forward and look a little step deeper and go, well, this is interesting. He's done that before.

It's the Abraham Accords, it's all of these things that never actually happened. It's saying. You know, when they were talking about Gaza originally, going, well, what if we develop it into this, you know, Riviera of the Middle East? What would that look like? It's not necessarily the right plan or the wrong plan.

It's a different plan, it's a third option. It's not just, is it Israel's land? Is it a Palestinian territory? It's what about. Over here, I think that's what's happening very much.

In this situation? It's going, what if we try this? If we're not going to have a full overthrown government, a free Iran where the people have risen up and we've created an entire new union entity, how do we bring this once thriving nation? Uh to the table. And look, I would love to see that happen again in Russia and Ukraine as well.

I think that that is a big piece of this puzzle that we haven't really addressed yet, which is how this is going to play in with that. That is another one that President Trump could figure out a way to get back to the table. I think you have a global economy issue when you don't have Russia. Yeah. You know, you have China, but you don't have Russia.

Let's talk about that. Let's move forward with that. I want to play one more sound bite before we go to break from JD Vance as he was wrapping up today. Let's go bite nine. Peace plan in Iran is already bearing real fruits for the American people.

Last night, 12.5 million barrels of oil went through the Strait of Hormuz. That is a high since the beginning of the conflict. Oil prices are down nearly at their level from the pre-war conflict. Gas prices dropped below $4 a gallon today for the first time since the conflict. And importantly, they're going to keep falling further given how low oil prices are.

On the military side, the Iranians for the second night in a row did not shoot at any ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

So far, they are honoring their end of the commitment. And on the blockade, CENTCOM has allowed north of a dozen ships to go through our naval blockade. And so we're also honoring our end of the early part of the agreement. I do love that this is how we're judging Iran is they made it two nights. Without shooting.

You know, it does feel ridiculous when you say that, like, oh, look at that. Two fo forty eight hours. 48 hours in a row, but I understand you take any win you can at this point. And look, I'd say, I refilled my gas tank last night. I was running on fumes, folks.

Closest I've probably been to running empty. And I can't tell you how long I was at a movie with my daughters and I was like, we got to stop. And I refilled my tank from zero to, you know, completely full. And I mean, zero, it was, I mean, it was close. It was, I was on the edge.

I was about to have to call my wife and be like, look, I don't want to embarrass myself here, but we ran out of gas. And I refilled my tank. And it was at at a fairly reasonable cost. Still expensive. But there wasn't three digits there in the dollar figure.

It was under $100. It was like $70. I got a pretty big SUV. I was pretty happy with that. It's weird what makes you happy these days.

I want to hear from you. 1-800-684-3110. We get back. I want to take some calls. If you're watching online right now, call me too.

Look, it's just me sitting here alone today. Be my friend. Be nice. Give me a call, 1-800-684-3110. And we'll keep walking you through this deal.

And again, like I said, Rick Rinnell's going to join us. And then at the very end, we're going to walk you through essentially word by word, word for word, of this deal. Will Hayes is gonna lay it all out for you. That's coming up in just a minute. Hey, become an ACLJ champion if you can.

Just got some reporting, some numbers. Could do a little better this month. ACLJ.org. Woodlands are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Thanks for joining me today.

We are going over a lot of the deal points that are in the now-signed agreement. From both sides, again, memorandum of understanding. There will be a more formal version of this, but as of now, President Trump has signed, so has some of the leadership in Iran. And here we are, folks. I would say it's pretty easy to declare that the war or conflict, however you want to put it, in Iran, at least for now, if everyone says, you know, does what they say.

is concluded, is over. President Trump clearly wanted to get this done before the midterms. I think that we would be. Dishonest. If we didn't think that that did push some of this, not that he.

Necessarily gets swayed one way politically or not, but I don't think that that's, you know, there's nothing wrong with saying that this is something they wanted to get done quick. He never wanted this to be a long-term conflict. And now you have The right and the left. Trying to kind of go into panic mode, as I don't think anyone thought that this was possible, that we would actually have this wrapped up, and that there would be, it's the problem when you present something new. No one knows how to react.

So you hear $300 million going to Iran. And you go, How could that be? It's just like the Obama deal. And then you look at it a little closer and you go, oh, wait, it's $300 million in investment funds to that these companies are going to come in from other countries and That's going to be over a large portion of time. And we're just talking about really: can Iran become a player on the global stage once again?

And I think that is a very President Trump kind of move. It's a very interesting. Third way to go. I don't dislike that. I'm honest with you when I feel like there's a problem.

Did I like that we weren't going to have a full regime change? And essentially, this plan says pretty much black and white, that's not going to happen. No, I don't love that. But is this the next best option? Yeah, probably.

There's a lot to break down specifically in this deal. We can go line for line. I think you've heard a lot of it, and we will. In the final segment of the show, Will Haynes recorded a very special presentation because, look, we went off the air and they released this. I mean, within minutes, they had released it.

And of course, the right and the left freaked out. You had people on both sides, some of them praising it, that I wouldn't expect, some of it not liking it, which I wouldn't expect. One of the big sticking points I think a lot of people are concerned about is one, and this wasn't even in the deal, but it was addressed, is that. They still will have milit uh missiles. And it's not in the deal, but it says they'll still have missiles.

Uh and President Trump said, Well, if Saudi Arabia gets missiles, how come they can't get missiles? Missiles can take down a building, but they can't they can't uh You know, blow up a uh the universe. And I think people had a little bit of a visceral reaction to that. Because you get nervous when you hear those kind of people who have been this rough. Who have killed tens and tens and tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people over the course of, maybe more over the course of their entire run, but of course, even in the last year.

Uh You do get a little nervous. When we're making that casual, when you see what happens in Israel, when you see the raining down of rockets. Uh And one of the other things is this whole status quo conversation. Like one of the here-here's one of the talking points. Pending the final deal, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran agree to maintain the status quo.

The Islamic Republic of Iran will maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program, and the United States will not impose any new sanctions and will not deploy additional forces into the region.

Well, that is concerning. Yeah. So just be honest.

Now. What is status quo? If it's status quo right now, well, they don't have a lot of options. because the facilities were destroyed. But if we're talking about going back to where things were, I don't know how you trust that.

That that's something to be a little bit nervous about. JD Vance did talk specifically. about uh the missile conversation. And I want you to hear, look, I'm playing a lot of sound today, but I think it's important. This is not a deal to be like overlooked and go, like, whatever, I'll move on with my day.

That is why at the end of the show, we're going to break it all down really, really specifically, because I do think you need to know. Let's go buy 24. What has changed about Iranians, about the Iranian ballistics missile program, is it matters much less the number of missiles they have, the number of bullets. What matters much more is the number of launchers they have, and importantly, the teams on the ground that have the capacity to launch those missiles. Their ability to launch missiles has been substantially degraded.

Is it zero? No, but it's substantially degraded. And in that sense, we haven't abandoned the mission. We've accomplished that particular part of the mission. If you look at the Gulf Arab allies, and obviously the Israelis who faced a lot, the two of them together faced a brunt of these missile attacks.

Each of them feels substantially safer today from the Iranian missile threat than they did before. Obviously, that is something that we would like to continue. All the President said yesterday is that you can't expect any country to give up its right of self-defense. You have to have parity, and that's what the President of the United States was talking about. He heard sort of chaos breakout after that to try to get the next question.

And I think that that is. Maybe glossing over it a little bit, but I understand these are talking points. Also, what do you think? About J.D. Vance in this situation.

Clearly, someone who has considered running for President. Again, we are so close to that. I know that it sounds like it's hard to explain. It's like talking to your kids, being like, 24 months from now. Yeah, we will be Starting the process of early voting, or 25 months and now early voting.

And you know, for a kid, that feels like forever. In politics, it does not. In politics, that is nothing. These people are starting to At least dip their toe in running, whether it's Gavin Newsom, whether it's Marco Rubio, whether it's, of course, Vice President Vance. He stepped up to the global stage this week.

How do you think J.D. Vance is doing? Let me know by giving me a call at 1-800-68-431-10. I've played you a lot of sound today. He's pretty cut.

I'll be honest, I was pretty impressed with him. Again, I think he actually did a very good job. And I'm not saying that I think he should be necessarily the guy or not the guy, but he did a very good job. You want me to play this bicep? All right, I want to hear even more.

This is kind of a fun part of this. Of course, he's been making the rounds. He's been promoting a book, but also showing up on a different podcast and some of the ones I really enjoy. Or he's been showing up on some mainstream media outlets that I don't know if he's going to do him any favors, but maybe get some good clips from. And of course, he showed up on The View.

This is again Vice President Vance this week. He kind of addressed that in jest when talking about if he should be the person who is doing these high-stakes negotiations based on his background, Byte 15. I've seen some progressive criticisms of me personally saying what experience does the Vice President of the United States have with hostile high-stakes negotiations and I would point those progressive critics to the fact that just two days ago I spent over an hour on the view.

So I actually have great experience in very hostile negotiations, and I've used that. I mean, look, Joy Behar is way tougher than the Iranians, and she and I are best friends now.

So we're going to get to a good place here. We're going to get to a good place. We're already at a good place. I don't know if that joke landed in the room as much as he wanted it to be. You didn't hear a big, you know, uproarious laugh from the press.

Maybe they weren't paying attention. They're focusing on getting their next question in. But a pretty funny statement, a pretty trying-to-be-real statement saying, look, I was on the view for an hour. Much more, you know, Joy Behar is way tougher than the Iranians, trying to kind of downplay it. And I do think the American people are like, all right, you could say that a little bit later.

How about not during this memorandum of understanding conversation? But I also think that room is not necessarily lit up for comedy. But it's a funny joke, and I think you're starting to see a more Presidential, casual conversation starting to come out of Vice President Vance, and I think he'll need that. To secure the nomination, I don't think it's his by any means. I don't think it's his for the taking.

When we get back, we have a second half hour coming up. In the next segment, I'm going to take your calls. Right off the top of the second half hour. I don't usually do that, but we got Rick Rinnell, and then we're gonna have that special presentation at the end.

So the next segment is for you. Give me a call at 1-800-68-430-110. If you lose us here, if you're listening on Christian Terrestrial Talk Radio, some of you don't get the full hour. You should, but you know what? Migrate over.

To aclj.org, to YouTube, to Rumble, even if you're not watching live, 12 to 1 p.m. Eastern Time. The whole show is available there, full television-style production. I want you to join us that way. That is the best way to do it.

And of course, support the work of the ACLJ because none of this happens without you. Those advertisers you hear on your local radio station, that's not going to us. Only through your support can we keep this going. Keeping you informed and engaged.

Now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now, your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to the back half of Sekulow. Look, the Memorandum of Understanding is complete and has been signed.

President Trump did it. Signed it, sitting right next to Emmanuel McCrone. Where? In the Palace of Versailles. I know that's not getting a lot of attention, but can you imagine a more President?

Are you sure he had to be looking around going, I like the gold? I like the look of this. It's a good place to sign a document that happened in Versailles. Of all places, this is what's happening right now. I just find that to be, I don't know if ironic is the right word, but just a fun little historical fact that we can actually say forever that this is where this occurred.

That they brought President Trump this document to sign at essentially a dinner table sitting next to the leader of France in the Palace of Versailles during the G7. I mean, again, it feels like it, just like it happened on the original deal, the understanding of the deal happened on his 80th birthday right before UFC. It feels very made for television, and that's we know President Trump loves that. There's a lot of calls coming in. This is my segment to take up.

I'm going to try to get to as many of you as you can. Stay on hold. Let's go to Martin first, who's an ACLJ champion. Martin, go ahead, North Carolina. Thank you, sir.

This goes to some of the comments that you made. I have a comment and question. I think there needs to be a lot of accountability.

Now, there's people out there saying things that just don't know better, like how is this better than the Obama-Biden deals and all that. They just don't know any better. But then you have the shifty shifts out there that are absolutely lying. And you knew that. I saw that this morning.

What he had said on there. What Trump has done, and it's been said several times now, there are consequences for good and bad behavior. It's not just money thrown out there. There's tangible things that have to be done. Absolutely, Mark.

So I'm only cutting you off because I want to try to get to a couple more calls, more time, and I want to say thank you for being a champion. There are a lot of things they have to hold up to. In this agreement, this is not some done deal where everyone goes back to how things were. You're absolutely right. The media is spinning it that way, but that's why I want you to actually hear what the document says.

And at the end of the show, the last segment of the show, we're going to go through it word for word.

So, Martin, stay tuned for that and share that clip with your friends if they push back on it. You know, these big numbers, 300 million, they're going to hear a headline and they're not going to actually do their due diligence. Just like UFC costs taxpayers $60 million and you read it. No, it costs them no dollars. Ah, well, $60 million.

I saw the number. That's it. Thanks for calling, though, Martin. Let's go on, move on. Let's go to Holly online too.

Holly, go ahead. Yes, I think we're really in a quagmire. I think the key point for the world is keeping the street open. I think that's what the world's most concerned about. And if everything started today with it being open, We're still gonna feel effects for quite a while.

I think the whole Most of a good part of the world because it's not just oil and prices, it's fertilizer. And we already heard that about 70% of our farmers. That they couldn't afford the fertilizer this year. And I don't, my key point is: I think Israel is definitely going to. Um they're gung-ho.

To still attack Lebanon and their right to.

So I don't know what we're going to do about that. But what you have, though, and this is just the truth with Israel, because look, you know, I'm very supportive of the existence of the state of Israel and all that. I do think you have, if this deal holds up, though, America can't get really always behind Israel in these.

So they have to do it alone. And that's going to be a different scenario. And of course, they want Israel on board.

Sounds like Israel is somewhat on board. Remember, a lot of these are still in this just memorandum of understanding. They are not in the final deal. We got to push that forward too. This isn't the final deal.

We still got 30 days plus till then. Do we look? I'm going to answer the question. Karma called. Karma in Mississippi.

I appreciate it. You're an ACLJ champion, so I don't want you to not be on the air today, but we're just not going to be able to get to you. But I will let you know the answer to your question. You asked who signed this for the memorandum of understanding. Obviously, President Trump signed it, but you also had the Iranian President.

Uh, I'm not even gonna try. I'm not even gonna try. The President of Rad. Formally signed. The Memorandum of Understanding.

I almost tried for you, but I thought, you know what? It's better for me to just say the President of Iran. Because remember, there's a lot of who is the Ayatollah, who says the President, so this is from the President. of Iran. President Massoud.

I will say that. We get right back. We will have Rick Rinnell joining us. And then again, we're going to wrap up this show. Going line for line, word for word.

Will's gonna take you there. It's gonna be a journey, folks. Be a part of it. Don't go anywhere back in just a minute. Welcome back to Sekulow.

We're breaking all of this down for you, trying our best to just go line for line, but so much so in the next segment I had Will pre-record. A bit for you. I want you to see. He goes line for line, word for word, through this memorandum of understanding, the MOU, as all of a sudden we are supposed to know that term. Another one of these terms that gets thrown around that now it's just like everyone knows MOU.

But we do have Rick Rinnell joining us. Rick, obviously, there are a lot of opinions going around, a lot of thoughts on this deal. Vice President Vance came out this morning, was trying to set the record straight because there have been a lot of maybe confusion. There's been, look, there's been complaints from the left. There's certainly been complaints from the right as well about this deal.

I want to get your opinion. You're another person, another person who has been in those rooms. What do you think?

Well, first of all, let's take the criticism from the left first. The criticism from the left is somehow this is the same as the Obama deal, that is defying logic to think that Iran is in the same situation. I mean, President Trump literally used the U.S. military to devastate them. It took out the leadership, took out their military capacity.

Anyone who is denying that, you should just dismiss because that is fundamentally true. It is a different country. They have been literally wiped out on their military front. We've also devastated their economy.

So those are just two points. Just two small points. Two points that you fundamentally must say to the left: this isn't even apples to apples. We've crushed them.

Now, the criticism on the right. to say you know these guys can't be trusted I think we agree. I think everybody agrees with that. They can't be trusted, which is exactly why we've put in place. A system that checks the action, not the words of Iran, but the actions.

In order for them to have some of this money released. As JD Vance said today, They've been devastated with trillions of dollars in destruction. And so when you have a decimated leadership, we're down to like stage three for your leadership. And you've decimated their economy, they don't have much money, and you've decimated their military, and you've decimated their nuclear program. As JD also said, I think he's right.

Why not test it? And say, can you change your habits? Can you come forward and not threaten your neighbors and threaten the United States and not pursue a nuclear weapon? We are in that testing phase, and we have put together. A variety of steps to make sure that they don't get rewarded until this new era.

Is tested. And I think that we have every right as the Americans to test this process.

Now, lastly, I'll just say JD also took us through. The Vice President shared with us how all of our allies in the region. The Arab allies have really said, Look, this is a new day. They've been decimated. Let's try this.

And so nothing is going to be given to the Iranians unless they take action, not just words. But it is a new day, and I think people need to understand that they're in a fundamentally different position. I've tried to kind of explain that over the last hour: I do think the Trump administration, whoever worked on this deal, JD Vance, everyone, came up with what would have been maybe the second best option if the first option wasn't a free Iran, a total, I mean, it's obviously a new regime in some ways, but not a totally new government that they found. And I think President Trump has done this time and time again, whether that's working with Israel, whether that is working on all of these negotiations, which is to find a third path, to find not what's obvious, not what's on paper, when it's usually, well, it's either this or this.

Somehow, the Trump administration comes up with something that really does throw people off. It throws the media off as well, because they go, oh, we weren't even considering this. This wasn't on the table as one of these options. How dare he come up with something new and innovative and creative? And I think now, when I actually look at this deal, the parts that I agree with, maybe some of the parts that I have, you know, I want to make sure that we're sticking by, I do go, oh, once again, This administration has found a creative way To solve this problem, a version that is going to hold them accountable without any sort of financial dollars getting there until they show that they can do better, can prove better, can be better, be better on the world stage, could actually be.

Because look, just like you, and I'm sure a lot of people is, you should be thinking of somewhere like Iran. As a place that can be developed, that we would all visit one day and that we would all be able to invest in. For sure, and that's where you have hope and you're hopeful. But make no mistake, this is a deal. that does not give an inch unless the Iranians Actually, they change their behavior.

Now, let me also say one thing: as the former DI. We, the US government, no matter what the country is. Have always evaluated inside other countries those people who are hardliners and those people who are pragmatists.

Sometimes in the past, not in the Trump administration, but sometimes in the past, we've actually had policies where we go and spend U.S. taxpayer dollars to help. The pragmatist beat the hardliner in certain elections. That is no more. We're not doing that, we're not spending that money.

A lot of that money was run through USAID. And we've really stopped trying to intervene in another country's elections. But make no mistake, we have intelligence that understands who the pragmatists are. Within Iran, it has never been a situation where there's not an internal conflict. Unfortunately, in the past, the hardliners have always won very quickly, and they've decimated anyone who wants to have a different path.

That is a different day. If you think about the players within Iran, we've taken out a lot of the hardliners. Are they still there?

Some of them, yes. But the numbers are not the same. There are pragmatists that are speaking up, that are feeling more emboldened. And we need to test this moment with a new era to see if we can move them to a peaceful situation.

Now, A lot of people are skeptical. President Trump is skeptical, which is why we've put in place this system where they have to prove that they are making steps in order to get some of their money back. And speaking of the money, I mean, that's been a big talking point. That has been a headline that is being ran with, which was: look, We just gave them $300 billion. Look at this.

And of course, that is what they want you to believe. That is what the news media and the mainstream media is going to push on you for those people they know are not going to read, let's say, the old school way below the fold. They're certainly not even going to probably read below the headline or the Instagram reel or whatever it is they share. I see so many. And I always almost start.

Because not unlike you, I met a lot of my friends, and we're in the arts, we're a lot of liberal friends. I start to respond and then I go, this isn't worth my time because I know their story, they're going to move on in five minutes from this and move on to their next issue of the day. But This has been the case. Look what happened with the UFC. I know that you were there.

They were saying the US taxpayers are having to pay $60 million for the UFC. And then, of course, you actually read it and you go, well, no, the UFC paid for that. And you go, oh, well, ah. And I have one of my friends issue a public apology when I called them out on that. It's not dissimilar, just on a much bigger stage.

Look, I think we always are going to have disinformation and partisan media coverage. And any media or any of our friends on the left. who try to pretend like the amount of money that's going to be available to the new team in Iran. Anyone who compares that to what Obama did is just being completely disingenuous. Maybe purposefully, but maybe stupidly.

The reality is that they will not have access to this money unless they make progress. That is different than what Obama had. Remember, Obama did not decimate the nuclear program. Obama did not change the leadership. Obama did not decimate the military.

This is a brand new day, and we are testing them to see. Are the hardliners uh Really pushed out so much that there is a new chance where the pragmatists can rise.

Now, look. I get the skeptics to say, no, never, they're never going to do that. They're always going to push gay people off buildings and they're always going to be seeking to do nuclear weapons and antagonize their neighbors with terrorism. I get that. I've worked on this issue for a very long time.

But I think what President Trump has done to decimate the military and the nuclear programs. It is worth a chance right now to try diplomacy to see and test if they are willing to come back in. If they're not, they're not going to have access to this money. Rick, I appreciate you joining us today and breaking that down. I always find it incredibly fascinating.

Look, the work that we continue to do here at the ACLJ, we have Rick and we have this incredible team. None of it happens without you. And again, I appreciate all the work that Rick, you've done. I appreciate all the work that our listeners and viewers do in support of this organization. Because, look, right now, what we're going to do, we're going to shift things up a little bit.

In the next segment. I worked with Will. Our team worked with Will Haynes, you know, our producer here. You see him on the show. I said, we'll break this all down.

And by I said that, someone else said that, and I'm taking credit for it. and said, break it all down for us for our viewership.

So we're going to go pretty much word for word in this next segment. And you're going to know exactly what's in this memorandum of understanding. You can agree with it or disagree with it, but you know what? You're going to know what's in it. You don't have to, you know, you're gonna dive in, okay?

So get ready. We're going in on this. And if you can't, support the work of the ACLJ at aclj.org. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow Look.

This is our last segment of the day. I thought it'd be very important. You know, when these kind of deals happen, I think you should have a breakdown of exactly what is in these deals.

So, we just did coverage and commentary for the last 45 minutes or so on this show. What I wanted to do next was to break it down essentially line for line.

So, Will Haynes, who you know from this show. He sat down with our crew just a little bit ago and went through it line for line.

So you'll have all the details, all the information.

So here it is. I'm going to kick it over to Will Haynes to take it from here. Again, this is the breakdown of the entire deal. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran and their allies in the current war, by signing this MOU, declare the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and undertake from now on to not initiate any war or any military operation against each other and to refrain from the threat or use of force against each other and ensuring the territorial integrity of sovereignty of Lebanon. The final deal will confirm the permanent termination of the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and other provisions of this paragraph.

The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran commit to negotiating and achieving the final deal in maximum. Maximum 60 days expendable with mutual consent, meaning there that this is the memorandum of understanding. They expect to have a final deal 60 days from now. But as we've seen, sounds like that number may be a little bit movable. Immediately upon signing of this MOU, the United States of America will begin the removal of its naval blockade and any disturbances or impediments against the Islamic Republic of Iran and will fully end the naval blockade within 30 days.

During this period, the traffic of vessels will be in proportion to the number of pre-war traffic being restored by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States of America further undertakes to remove its forces from the proximity of the Islamic Republic of Iran within 30 days after the final deal.

So our military is going to still be there until at least 90 days from now. We'll see if that sticks. Upon the signing of this MOU, Islamic Republic. Of Iran will make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge for 60 days, only from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman, and vice versa. The traffic of commercial vessels will immediately start.

The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least $300 billion of U.S. dollars for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The mechanism for the implementation of this plan will be finalized as a part of a final deal within 60 days. All required licenses, waivers, and permissions needed for the relevant financial transactions will be granted by the United States of America. This is that sticking point that many people in the media were saying, we're going to give $300 billion of taxpayer money to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

When you read it here, it is very clear that this will be some sort of private funding, private development deal going into the Islamic Republic, especially because. The U.S. has to grant licenses, waivers, et cetera, because of all the sanctions. We're not going to charge ourselves sanctions on our own money if we are just sitting 300 billion. Very clear, it's not what the media reported.

The United States of America undertakes to terminate all types of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the UN Security Council resolutions, i.e., a Board of Governors resolutions, and all unilateral U.S. sanctions, primary and secondary, in an agreed-upon schedule as a part of a final deal. The Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran have agreed to resolve the disposition of stockpile-enriched material pursuant to a mechanism that will be mutually agreed upon in accordance with the schedule mentioned in paragraph seven, with the minimum methodology. To be downblending on site under the supervision of the IAEA.

The Islamic Republic is saying that they will immediately address these issues, that they agree that they will not procure or develop nuclear weapons. Very important. Not just make their own, but they will not buy one from someone else, and that enriched material they will find a way to dispose of. The two parties also agreed to discuss the issue of enrichment and other mutually agreed matters related to the Islamic Republic of Iran's nuclear needs based on a satisfactory framework being agreed upon in the final deal. What is that telling you?

It said that they haven't figured out yet what the future of an Iranian enrichment program looks like. We know the lies that Iran has told: that they need it for medical isotopes, that they need it for research, etc. This is a big sticking point. Point eight. To the final deal actually happening.

We'll see what happens there. Pending the final deal, the United States of America and Islamic Republic of Iran agree to maintain the status quo. The Islamic Republic of Iran will maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program, and the United States of America will not impose any new sanctions and will not deploy additional forces to the region. And what is status quo right now? Their nuclear facilities buried under rubble from U.S.

bombs. But also, we're not going to try and put new sanctions on them. This is just keeping everything as it is for 60 days. The United States of America undertakes it immediately upon signing the MOU until the termination of sanctions. U.S.

Department of Treasury will issue waivers for the export of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products, and derivatives, and all associated services, including banking transactions, insurances, transactions. Transportation, et cetera. The United States of America undertakes to make fully available for use the frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran. What you're going to see is a bunch of headlines flow from that point that say America gives $30 billion to Iran or $10 billion. They're going to be able to write as many headlines.

All that is, is saying that assets that have been frozen under all of this framework, they will then be able to access their money in those accounts.

So be careful when you read headlines that say, We're giving money, we're giving money. As of yet, I've seen nothing in here that says taxpayer dollars go to Iran in any shape or fashion. After signing this MOU and subject to the beginning of the implementation of paragraphs 1, 4, 5, 10, and 11 of the MOU and the continuing implementation of these measures, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran will start negotiations regarding the funds. Final deal exclusively on the other paragraphs.

So, as soon as they sign it, they're getting to work on those negotiations for a final deal. And finally, 14, the final deal will be endorsed by a binding UN Security Council resolution, meaning very similar to any other type of agreement like this, the UN will sign off on it saying we give our stamp of approval, etc. Folks, there's a lot to dig in. That is what the text of the memorandum of understanding is. I hope you enjoyed that.

That was really a great breakdown. We're going to put it also online. There's going to be a short form version, a long form version.

So, if your friends are asking you specifically about the details or you want to keep yourself informed about what's going on, maybe you need to go back, you want to get more guy. That's what we do here. We break it all down so you can understand it. We have an incredible team of research, an incredible team of producers that are going through all of this content. Of course, our legal team as well that is breaking down all of this for you.

And that is only because people like you support the work of the ACLJ each and every day, whether that's in a one-time donation or whether you become an ACLJ champion, someone that gives on a monthly basis. I want to thank all of you who watch each and every day. But if you can right now, I encourage you to go to aclj.org and make that one-time donation or become an ACLJ champion. We'll be back tomorrow with more on Secular. Yeah.