At the Palace of Versailles on June 17, as French President Emmanuel Macron looked on, President Donald Trump signed his name to a 14-point memorandum of understanding with the Islamic Republic of Iran—a regime whose state-controlled media, within hours, was broadcasting banners declaring that “the US was forced to sign an agreement to end the war.” In Tehran, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held up his signed copy for cameras, completing what Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei called proof that his country had “defeated two nuclear powers… We truly are a superpower.”
The proof that Iran’s celebration is not merely rhetorical lies on the ground: Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful proxy, is firing missiles and drones daily into Israel even as a supposed ceasefire is in effect, and Hamas’s latest response to mediators in Cairo amounts to an effective rejection of key components of Trump’s Gaza peace plan, including the demand for disarmament.
The MOU, mediated by Pakistan and Qatar and signed two days earlier than originally planned, grants Iran large-scale economic relief and commits Tehran only in principle to a subsequent dilution of its enriched uranium—while pushing off discussion of Iran’s nuclear program and other core issues to a 60-day negotiation period. Despite Trump’s combative pre-war rhetoric, Iran’s theocratic government remains in place, its stockpile of highly enriched uranium has not been surrendered, its ballistic missile capabilities have not been destroyed, and it has not ended its support for terror proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wasted no time in framing the outcome. He stated flatly that Iran “defeated the US in the military battlefield” and warned that “Iran’s armed forces will always have their hand on the trigger to confront the conspiracies of the enemies.” He added that the MOU itself was written not in a spirit of partnership but of calculated suspicion: “This memorandum does not mean trusting the enemy; it has been written with active distrust. We will monitor the implementation of U.S. commitments.”
Iran’s military operational headquarters, Khatam al-Anbiya, went further in its Sunday night statement, declaring that “the humiliated enemies have no option but to accept defeat and surrender before a people inspired by God and the soldiers of the Almighty.” The statement continued: “By imposing their divine and iron will upon their adversaries, they proved that there is no alternative for the enemy other than acknowledging defeat.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi matched the triumphalist tone from the diplomatic lane. Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that Araghchi declared the nation’s military performance had yielded not only tactical but strategic gains: “The Iranian nation achieved not only tactical victories during the 12-day imposed war in June last year and the recent war, but also important strategic accomplishments whose impact can be observed in both regional and global equations.” Araghchi added that “the true image of Iran’s power on the global stage stems not only from its military capabilities but also from national cohesion, resilience, and the active involvement of its people.”
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Baghaei confirmed what Israel and much of Washington had feared—Iran’s ballistic missile program is entirely off the table. “Iran’s missiles are meant to be fired, not negotiated over,” he said. “Our missiles don’t even like being talked about. Iran’s defensive capabilities will not be discussed in any process, with any party.” He was equally unambiguous on uranium: “Transferring enriched nuclear material out of the country is unacceptable to us.” The deal includes a $300 billion plan for Iran’s reconstruction as well as the removal of “all types” of U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
On the Strait of Hormuz, Baghaei outlined Tehran’s intentions with precision: “Iran will charge fees for services in the Strait of Hormuz. The mechanisms for managing the Strait of Hormuz have largely been agreed upon with Oman,” preserving, he said, “the sovereignty and dominion of the Islamic Republic of Iran” over the waterway. Trump had announced the strait would open toll-free to all shipping and that the US naval blockade on Iran’s ports would be lifted immediately. Iran’s version of what was agreed and Washington’s version were already diverging before the ink had dried.
Baghaei delivered his most sweeping verdict directly to Iranian state television: “Our enemies have inflicted harm on us. But a wounded lion remains a lion. The war they imposed not only did not bring us to our knees, but made us stronger.”
The behavior of Iran’s proxies since the MOU was announced validates every word of that boast. In the week of June 1–7 alone, Hezbollah carried out 198 attack waves against Israel and IDF forces operating in Lebanon—323 waves involving rockets and missiles and 553 waves involving UAVs and explosive drones over that period, with four IDF soldiers killed. The MOU’s first clause calls for an “immediate and permanent” cessation of military operations across all fronts, Lebanon included. Hezbollah, directed and financed by Tehran, did not get the memo—or more precisely, it got exactly the memo Tehran intended. VP JD Vance, pressed at a White House press conference on the clause extending the ceasefire to Lebanon, acknowledged that he still expects “some conflict” between Israel and Hezbollah, saying, “Both sides have to honor their end of the deal.” Hezbollah has shown no indication it intends to.
In Gaza, the situation is equally revealing. Trump’s peace plan for the Strip explicitly requires Hamas’s disarmament as a foundational condition. Hamas’s latest response to mediators during disarmament talks in Cairo amounts to an effective rejection of key components of that plan. In the weeks and months following the Gaza ceasefire deal, US officials insisted that Hamas had agreed to give up its weapons—something the terrorist organization has shown little indication it is prepared to do. Hamas remains armed, entrenched, and in operational control of Gaza even as Iran collects its diplomatic winnings in Versailles. The connection is not incidental: Hamas is an Iranian proxy, funded and directed by the same Islamic Republic that is now declaring superpower status on state television.
Israel, which launched the war against Iran alongside the US on February 28, was not included in the negotiations, yet the US and Iran have treated Israel as subject to the MOU and to previous ceasefire agreements. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the deal “bad for Israel and for the entire free world, period,” and pledged that Israel “will have to continue the campaign to topple the regime ourselves and in creative ways, and ensure that Iran will never have nuclear weapons.” Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that the IDF “will remain in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza for an unlimited period of time.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has avoided directly criticizing the agreement while publicly rejecting Iran’s demand that the IDF withdraw from Lebanon.
Times of Israel founding editor David Horovitz described the MOU as a “catastrophic capitulation” to Iran’s aggressors, arguing the deal is one-sided—providing Iran with up to $100 billion in immediate economic relief without any formal resolution of the nuclear weapons program.
Lisa Daftari, founder and editor-in-chief of The Foreign Desk, told Fox News Digital that nothing about the Islamic Republic’s behavior should be expected to change. “The Islamic Republic’s very DNA is built on delay, deceit and deniability. Every agreement it has signed has been treated as a tactical pause on the way to more missiles, more proxies and more leverage—not a real change in behavior. So while it’s important to read the fine print of this new deal, it’s even more important to remember who is signing it.”
James Stavridis, retired U.S. Navy admiral and former supreme allied commander of NATO, was uneuivocal: Iran won the war:
“It is too soon to fully judge the results of the war in Iran in terms of the precise outcomes, but from what we know now, it is difficult to make the case that this war achieved any significant positive result for the United States,” he told Newsweek. “Iran retains the ability to close the Strait of Hormuz, is in possession of a thousand pounds of highly enriched uranium, continues to support its proxies fully, and has significant military capability. They may receive billions in cash payments from a variety of sources. It appears sanctions will be lifted on their sale of energy. The cost to the U.S. was tens of billions of dollars in equipment and operational costs, and the tragic loss of more than a dozen military personnel.”
The prophet Jeremiah recorded God’s warning about the false comfort of empty covenants: “They have healed the wound of My people lightly, saying ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:14) The Sages understood that an enemy who announces his own victory before the ink is dry has told you precisely what he intends to do next. While American and Iranian diplomats shake hands in Switzerland, Hezbollah drones are still crossing into northern Israel and Hamas terrorists in Gaza are still rejecting disarmament. Tehran’s proxies are the living proof of what the Islamic Republic means when it calls itself a superpower. The 60-day clock has started, and the answer to what was actually agreed at Versailles is already being written—not in diplomatic text, but in missile trajectories.
