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Attorneys Brian Kabateck and Shant Karnikian break down the hypocrisy at the center of Trump’s Iran policy. For a decade, Trump hammered Obama for the JCPOA, calling it a “giveaway to state-sponsored terror.” The Obama deal involved two categories of money: $50 to $60 billion in frozen Iranian assets from oil sales and trade revenue (never U.S. taxpayer dollars), and a $1.7 billion refund of a 1979 arms sale that was never delivered after the Shah fell (also not taxpayer dollars). In exchange, Iran reduced centrifuges and shipped out enriched uranium. Trump’s Islamabad MOU, signed June 17, 2026, had five provisions: immediate ceasefire, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, future negotiations on sanctions and nuclear issues, a UN Security Council endorsement, and financial incentives including releasing $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets held by Qatar. Brian and Shant go through the scorecard: 0 for 5. The ceasefire collapsed within days. The Strait remains contested. No UN endorsement. No nuclear agreement. But some of the $6 billion has already been released. Brian’s pop quiz: is $1.7 billion bigger or smaller than $6 billion? The MOU itself is the least binding document in the history of documents, with no enforcement mechanism and no consequences for noncompliance. Biden actually tightened sanctions on Iran, a fact that doesn’t fit the Trump narrative.
