Republican hawks and supporters of Israel expressed uneasiness on Wednesday over President Donald Trump’s shaky ceasefire deal with Iran, suggesting it was negotiated without Israel’s input and could allow Tehran to rebuild its military threat.
As new rounds of attacks threatened to derail the agreed two-week truce, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a key proponent of the war, said he was concerned about the terms of the ceasefire and that Congress should have the chance to vote on any broader peace deal.
“The supposed negotiating document, in my view, has some troubling aspects, but time will tell,” Graham tweeted.
The South Carolina conservative vowed to summon Vice President J.D. Vance to testify to Congress about the deal, which is unlikely to win White House support. Graham also called Vance an “architect” of the plan, which could be used to blame him if things go south, especially since he is leading follow-up talks in Pakistan.
“I look forward to the architects of this proposal, the Vice President and others, coming forward to Congress and explaining how a negotiated deal meets our national security objectives in Iran,” Graham added.
Most Republican lawmakers kept quiet about the ceasefire, especially as some reports suggested the deal was already on extremely shaky ground, with Israel launching fresh attacks and Tehran saying it had re-closed the Straits of Hormuz.
Right-wing supporters of Israel appear particularly divided on the ceasefire, with some backing Trump while others questioned whether the deal would prevent Israel from completing its goals of destroying Iran’s military and toppling the Islamic Republic’s authoritarian leadership.
“The Iranian regime is … using the negotiations and the strait to blackmail us and Israel,” Mark Levin, a right-wing pundit, tweeted. “We must not capitulate to this.”
The split is part of a bigger divide within the MAGA movement between backers of Israel and critics, who tend to oppose U.S. involvement in overseas conflicts.
Israel was reportedly only told about the deal when talks were in the very final stages, suggesting the Jewish state had limited input into crucial details.
Israel and White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the ceasefire doesn’t apply to its attacks on Lebanon, even though the top mediator, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, specifically said it did.
Trump has accused Iran of lying about the terms of the ceasefire, but the White House has not said what it considers the terms to be.
“(Israel) has more goals to complete,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement that echoed some of Trump’s talking points. “We will achieve them either through agreement, or through renewed fighting.”
“The finger is on the trigger,” he added.
