Trump Signs 60-Day Iran Nuclear Talks Deal as Congress Questions $300 Billion Reconstruction Fund
Updated
Updated · The Associated Press · Jun 20
Trump Signs 60-Day Iran Nuclear Talks Deal as Congress Questions $300 Billion Reconstruction Fund
3 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · Jun 20
Summary
A four-month U.S.-Iran war is now moving into a 60-day diplomatic phase after Trump signed a memorandum of understanding with Tehran aimed at ending its nuclear program.
Congress is weighing the deal without ever having authorized the war, and lawmakers from both parties are questioning whether the conflict’s costs in lives, billions of dollars and regional upheaval produced meaningful leverage.
A potential $300 billion fund for Iran’s reconstruction and economic development has become the sharpest flashpoint, with skeptical Republicans comparing it to the Obama-era deal’s far smaller $1.7 billion payment.
The war’s aftermath is also hitting Capitol Hill through Pentagon funding: the White House wants $1.5 trillion this year, Republicans are considering a $350 billion boost, and senators want reports on strikes including one that killed more than 165 people.
The debate leaves Congress to explain the war to voters, rebuild depleted arsenals and try to keep a fragile ceasefire intact while testing whether diplomacy can curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.