The Issue: Various concessions to the Iranian regime made in President Trump’s 14-point peace deal.

President Trump’s approach to the Iran deal has sparked comparisons to policies from the Obama era, as noted in the June 17 article titled “For Tehran, with love.”

Despite Israel’s significant efforts in targeting key figures within the Iranian regime, critics argue that the president missed an opportunity by not taking further action to dismantle the remaining drone and missile production facilities.

Many citizens anticipated a regime change, hoping for a substantial shift they believed would be delivered under Trump’s leadership. However, they found themselves disappointed by the lack of decisive transformation.

David Obremski

Wayne, NJ

The Iranian people weren’t let down by the United States. The United States, along with Israel, did everything that it set out to do: It took out the missile launch sites, Iran’s navy, its leadership and nuclear capabilities.

It’s now time for the Iranian people to rise up and take their country back.

Dan Gardner

Staten Island

Iran is getting its frozen assets back. Their leadership, the same leadership our own president labeled “bad people” who “must go,” remains firmly in power. No regime change. No surrender.

We poured billions into this effort that could have transformed our own society. Instead, we spent it on a “war” that ended with Iran’s government untouched and its nuclear ambitions still alive.

If this is what victory looks like, then the bar has been set so low it’s underground.

Alan Swartz

Verona, NJ

It seems to me that The Post is using inappropriate and false statements from unreliable sources to downgrade Trump’s efforts to force Iran to reverse its policies and become a country of peace.

I’m sure that Iran will not get any cash or relief from sanctions until they prove that they’re sincere in following the final agreements. If not, then, as Trump says, we will bomb the hell out of them.

Richard Ketay

Newark, NJ

Has Trump gone soft? Has he succumbed to accepting an ephemeral deal with Iran, for the sake of “trumpeting” a “deal” before the upcoming elections?

The president’s done so much good, it’s sad to see him squander it for what appears to be a specious “deal” with our and Israel’s No. 1 one sworn enemy.

Jack Weinberg

Manhattan

The agreement with Iran is the worst deal Trump could have made. Each point favors Iran, allowing it to buy time with further negotiations.

The people of Iran are the true victims, and Israel should prepare for a tough road ahead.

Ezra Ini

Queens

The Issue: Identity politics surrounding Karmelo Anthony’s 35-year prison sentence for murder.

After hearing Rep Jasmine Crockett fueling racial tensions regarding the killing of Austin Metcalf, one wonders if any other African American leaders can speak candidly about what happened (“Stab-slay jury nailed it: judge,” June 16).

If one wants to heal race relations, an honest appraisal of this senseless killing is a good place to begin. Time to put away the race card.

Peter Cooper

Bronxville

People who posted edited photos of themselves urinating on the grave of murder victim Austin Metcalf are not trolls, they are something much worse. They’re ignorant, misguided people whose minds have been so poisoned that they have lost the ability to evaluate any situation, including murder, other than through a lens of racial politics. Apparently they actually can’t think anymore.

This has nothing to do with racial justice, and the inability of people to see this is a failure of parenting, education and our society at large. A life was ended and many others are ruined, including that of the killer, all of which is an unspeakable tragedy.

Michelle Graham

Lynbrook

Want to weigh in on today’s stories? Send your thoughts (along with your full name and city of residence) to letters@nypost.com. Letters are subject to editing for clarity, length, accuracy, and style.

Anne Hathaway has joyfully announced that she is expecting her third child.

The 43-year-old star of “Mother Mary” shared the heartwarming news with her followers through an Instagram video on Friday, proudly showcasing her growing baby bump.

In the video, Anne, a mother of two, steps into view dressed in a white linen ensemble that initially conceals her belly. She then gracefully removes her arms to reveal her pregnancy.

Anne and her husband, Adam Shulman, whom she met in 2008 and married 14 years ago, are already parents to two sons: Jonathan, who is 10, and Jack, who is six.

She included the Barbara Lewis song Baby, I’m Yours in the post and also made this the caption of her announcement.

As the clip concludes, a beaming Anne offers a radiant smile before exiting the scene.

Anne Hathaway, 43, is pregnant with her third child! Devil Wears Prada star revealed her bump in an Instagram announcement on Friday after detailing ‘complicated’ journey to motherhood 

Mother-of-two Anne walked into shot wearing a white linen co-ord covering her stomach

Anne received congratulations from her celebrity pals, including Gigi Hadid who wrote: ‘YESS MOMMMMYYYYY’.

Suki Waterhouse said: ‘So happy for you’.

Others in the comments section, said: ‘Ahh congratulations! God I just love when women rock every part of life’; ‘Aww congratulations’; ‘Omggg congratulations!’ 

Anne had recently been spotted in a selection of flattering looks which disguised her blossoming bump. 

This included appearances in early June in New York in a floaty blue co-ord and at the Louis Vuitton Cruise Show in a stomach-skimming grey dress in May. 

Anne has previously opened up about her ‘complicated’ journey to motherhood and her desire to welcome a third child into their family.

She made the claims speaking to WSJ Magazine in March 2022, saying: ‘I could see us going for another one. There’s this tendency to portray getting pregnant, having kids, in one light, as if it’s all positive. But I know from my own experience, it’s so much more complicated than that.

Anne also spoke about how motherhood changed her for the better and altered her experience of living, telling the publication: ‘I didn’t feel fully landed and fully here until I was a mom.

Anne already shares her sons, Jonathan, 10, and Jack, six, with her husband of 14-years Adam Shulman, after first meeting in 2008 (pictured together last month)

‘It’s not like I was lacking integrity, but it made me want to be completely, on every level, true to my word. And that meant stopping any nonsense that I had going on inside myself. And it’s little breaks that you give yourself sometimes when you know that you’re not being your best self.’

Anne has historically kept her family life out of the spotlight and previously revealed the reason behind her decision.

In a November 2023 interview with PORTER, she said: ‘It’s something I feel is not just essential for my health – I’m on a team, it’s my family, and it’s not just about me.’

‘My family has needs, and one of the needs of children is that they need to be able to define their own lives.

‘It doesn’t even occur to me to link the two up, except through gratitude that they serve each other so beautifully. But they serve each other through me, and not through a space that’s outside of myself.’

Anne recently told how she has made a ‘conscious shift’ to stop living life as a ‘stressed person’ because she didn’t think it was ‘fair’ for the people around her to have to cope with her feeling under pressure and overwhelmed in various areas of her life.

She told Harper’s Bazaar magazine: ‘You can’t have a good time at a party if the hostess is stressed or she’s letting her stress show.

‘I just decided that it wasn’t fair for me to move through my life as a stressed person. I don’t want my kids to be around it, I don’t want my friends to be around it, I don’t want strangers to be around it, I don’t want people I work with to be around it.

At the end of the clip, delighted Anne flashes a huge grin before walking out of the frame

‘So I’ve done a lot of work to figure out how to metabolise differently, so that way I don’t feel overwhelmed by all that’s coming at me and that I’m participating in, but I actually feel really excited by it.’

She has stopped trying to find ‘balance’ in her life and believes looking for harmony is much more realistic.

She said: ‘Before, there was this focus that was really uncompromising and uninterrupted.

‘And I just can’t tell you anymore what life is like without kids, but kids interrupt you all the time.

‘My friends and I talk about it a lot, and we actually feel very defeated by the concept of balance.

‘If the weight shifts in one direction, you then have to bounce it up on the other side, and we find that it winds us up as opposed to making us steady. We’re like, ‘We seek to harmonise our life.’

Anne and Adam met at the Palm Springs Film Festival and wed in 2012 in Big Sur, California.

Anne has had a great year with the success of The Devil Wears Prada 2. Next she will star in The Odyssey with Matt Damon, Charlize Theron, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson.

Anne had recently been spotted in a selection of flattering looks which disguised her blossoming bump (pictured earlier this month)

Anne has had a great year with the success of The Devil Wears Prada 2 (pictured). Next she will star in The Odyssey with Matt Damon, Charlize Theron, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson

But two years ago she admitted that she didn’t always feel so secure about her career.

She said she is now ‘way more comfortable in [her] skin’ than she was 20 years ago.

The Oscar-winning star told Entertainment Tonight: ‘I certainly am way more comfortable in my skin in my 40s than I was in my 20s. I felt lost in my 20s.

‘I felt this pressure to have it all figured out and I thought that because I didn’t know everything about myself, I was somehow doing something wrong. But it turns out, that’s what your life’s for.’

While Anna has had huge career success, she considers her family to be her number one priority in life.

She explained: ‘When I started out, when I first became a mom, people were like, “Oh, how are you going to balance it?” and I’m just like, “Balance? What are you talking about?”‘

She also said that Christopher Nolan saved her career.

The acclaimed actress recalled being portrayed as ‘toxic’ prior to starring in Interstellar in 2014.

She told Vanity Fair: ‘A lot of people wouldn’t give me roles because they were so concerned about how toxic my identity had become online.

‘I had an angel in Christopher Nolan, who did not care about that and gave me one of the most beautiful roles I’ve had in one of the best films that I’ve been a part of.’

She admitted that the director changed the course of her career.

Anne said: ‘I don’t know if he knew that he was backing me at the time, but it had that effect. And my career did not lose momentum the way it could have if he hadn’t backed me.’

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — Asa Ellerup, the former spouse of convicted Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann, expressed through her lawyer on Friday that the 62-year-old architect “received what he deserved” after a New York judge imposed the maximum sentence on him this week for multiple murders committed between 1993 and 2010.

“She feels the punishment fits the severity of his crimes, and clearly, he got what he deserved,” stated Ellerup’s attorney, Bob Macedonio. “You cannot take the lives of eight people. She has never, and would never, support any such actions.”

According to Macedonio, Heuermann has not communicated with his ex-wife or their children since his transfer from the Suffolk County Jail on Thursday. He is currently being processed at Green Haven Correctional Facility in Stormville, New York. However, the specific location where he will serve his sentence remains undisclosed.

Gilgo serial killer Rex Heuermann was seen in a Suffolk County Courtroom in Riverhead, N.Y., on June 16, 2026, during his sentencing. (James Carbone/Newsday)

Gilgo serial killer Rex Heuermann appears inside a courtroom for sentencing at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., on June 16, 2026. (James Carbone/Newsday)

Ellerup infamously revealed that she now sleeps in the room where her ex tortured and killed seven of the eight victims in the latest episode of “The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets” docuseries on Peacock.

“The brutal truth is that Rex Heuermann said he dismembered the bodies in this room,” she says in the episode. “That is the brutal truth. OK. Now. There’s me. I’m in this room. And I’m here because I do feel spiritual. I am trying to say spiritually, in my own way, that I am really sorry for what these victims went through.”

Judge Timothy Mazzei ripped into the hulking Heuermann at sentencing Wednesday, calling him a “coward” and “small man” for the “despicable” murders of eight women, all around 100 pounds and 5 feet tall.

“Mr. Heuermann, as Mr. Tierney said, I know that you’re sorry you got caught. I assume that you’re sorry for what you’ve done to your wife and children. Are you a little bit sorry for what you did to these poor, innocent women?” Mazzei asked. “Eight women that you strangled to death — at least eight, that we know of. Are you at least a little bit sorry for that? Yes?”

Rex Heuermann’s victims: Sandra Costilla, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Valerie Mack, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor and Karen Vergata. (Insets: Suffolk County Police Department, Background: Michael Ruiz/News Media)

“Yes, I am,” Heuermann responded.

“You know what, you’ve been described as a very big man, but you’re a disgusting and despicable small man, if you’re a man at all,” an audibly emotional Mazzei replied. “And you’re a coward.”

Asa Ellerup attends a press conference at the Suffolk County Courthouse in Riverhead, N.Y., on Jan. 16, 2024. (Robert Miller/News Media)

He sentenced Heuermann to three consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole, to be followed by four consecutive terms of 25 years to life.

After dismissing three lesser charges, Mazzei ordered the bailiffs to “Get him out of here.”

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said afterward that local authorities expected to be rid of Heuermann before the end of the week. He was gone the following morning.

Attorney Bob Macedonio speaks to the media during a press conference at the Suffolk County Courthouse in Riverhead, N.Y., on Jan. 16, 2024. Macedonio represents Asa Ellerup, the ex-wife of convicted serial killer Rex Heuermann. (Robert Miller for News Media)

Ellerup filed for divorce shortly after Heuermann’s arrest outside his Manhattan office on July 13, 2023. Police soon descended on the family’s Massapequa Park home, the only ramshackle house in an otherwise upscale suburban neighborhood about 35 miles east of New York City.

A general view of Gilgo Beach, New York, on July 19, 2023. The beach is on a barrier island, with the Atlantic Ocean to the south and a marsh where the Gilgo Beach serial killer hid most of his victims’ remains to the north. (Mega for News Media)

Since his 2023 arrest, Heuermann was charged with the murders of seven women, and he confessed to killing an eighth during a change-of-plea hearing on April 8.

Tierney has declined to speculate about whether there are more victims, saying what he thinks “doesn’t matter” — and that if investigators obtain more evidence, it would be presented to a grand jury in pursuit of a new indictment.

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ROME (AP) — The Italian government united in protest on Friday against remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump, who claimed that Premier Giorgia Meloni had “begged” for a photograph with him at the recent G7 summit. This strong rebuttal from Italy signaled a growing fatigue with Trump’s self-aggrandizing statements.

Italy’s Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, promptly cancelled his planned visit to the United States over the weekend, labeling Trump’s assertions as “serious and offensive” not only to Premier Meloni but to Italy as a whole.

In response, Meloni released a video statement categorically dismissing Trump’s remarks as “completely fabricated” and expressed disbelief that he would concoct such a story about a longstanding ally. She firmly stated, “Italy and I do not beg.”

The controversy stems from an interview Trump gave, aired on Friday morning by the La7 network. Although the reporter’s question centered on Ukraine, Trump veered off-topic, bringing up Meloni and their interaction at the recent G7 meeting in Evian-les-Bains, France. During the summit, footage captured Meloni and Trump engaged in conversation, at times seated together on a small sofa.

La7 reported that Trump claimed Meloni had “begged” him for a photo opportunity. He allegedly said he wasn’t compelled to oblige but agreed out of a sense of pity for her. The network has provided a dubbed version of the interview online, although the original English audio is unavailable.

Meloni is astonished and defiant

In her video, Meloni said she was responding to Trump’s claims because “certain things deserve an immediate response.”

“Donald Trump’s statements are completely fabricated. I am frankly stunned,” she said. “I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves this way toward his own allies. After all, this isn’t the first time this has happened.”

It was an apparent reference to an interview Trump gave to Italian daily Corriere della Sera in April in which he criticized Meloni’s refusal to back the U.S.-Israel war in Iran. Meloni didn’t respond publicly at the time.

By Friday, it appeared she had had enough of his boasts and broadsides.

“I can only say that it’s a shame he doesn’t show the same resolve toward the enemies of the West, toward the enemies of the United States — toward leaders with whom he, on the other hand, is much more accommodating,” Meloni said Friday. “But there’s one thing he must remember: Italy and I do not beg.”

The White House did not return an immediate request for comment on Meloni’s remarks.

Meloni had initially sought to build on longstanding strong U.S.-Italian ties when Trump began his second mandate, and had positioned herself as a “bridge” between Washington and the European Union. She was the lone EU head of state to attend his inauguration.

But relations have frayed over the U.S. war in Iran, which Meloni has said was illegal, and Trump’s position on Ukraine, which Italy strongly supports. Trump’s tariffs and strong U.S. support of Israel over its war in Gaza have been other points of contention.

Italian officials close ranks around Meloni

By Friday afternoon, solidarity with Meloni had poured in from across the government and political spectrum, and included a call from President Sergio Mattarella, Italy’s widely respected head of state.

“Whoever attacks @GiorgiaMeloni attacks all of us,” posted Transport Minister Matteo Salvini.

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio referenced the sacrifice of American troops in World War II in underlining the harm to U.S.-Italy relations caused by Trump.

“The thousands of crosses marking the graves of American soldiers who died to free us from Nazi-Fascist dictatorship did not deserve such a painful blow to our fraternal ties,” Nordio said on X.

Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said he didn’t believe Meloni would ever beg someone for a photo, “not even under threat.”

“I can, however, imagine how much it cost her to set aside what Trump had said weeks ago, to serve the interests of Italy, of Europe, and of the West,” Crosetto posted on X. “Jokes of this kind do no good to anyone: neither to the USA, nor to Italy, nor to the alliance.”

Tajani had been due to travel to the U.S. on Sunday to take part in an Italy-U.S. business forum in Miami during which he was to have meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to a U.S. State Department announcement of the meeting.

A ‘fantastic’ friendship frays

Meloni had long been considered one of Trump’s closest allies in Europe, trying to act as a mediator between the often conflicting interests of the U.S. and the EU.

They had gotten off to a strong start, and the two leaders are ideologically aligned on many issues. As the head of a far-right party, Meloni backs curbing migration and promoting traditional values.

Weeks before Trump’s 2025 inauguration, Meloni met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago retreat, a visit that she said went “beyond expectations.” It was, she said at the time, “an opportunity to confirm a relationship that promises to be very solid,’’ adding diplomatically, “I don’t know if I can say privileged.”

In the months after, Trump had praised her repeatedly, as “fantastic,” “incredible,” beautiful and a friend.

But stark differences emerged over Ukraine, after Trump wavered in his support while Meloni kept backing Kyiv after Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

More recently, she sharply warned against U.S. threats to take Greenland by force, saying she didn’t believe Washington would go so far and that regardless Italy would never support such a move.

During a performance in Spain on Thursday, Katy Perry appeared to take a playful swipe at her former fiancé, Orlando Bloom.

While headlining the O Son do Camiño festival in Santiago de Compostela, the pop star’s set included an eye-catching moment featuring a giant phone display showing calls from several of her past partners, as seen in a viral video on social media.

As Perry sang her 2020 track “Never Really Over,” the oversized iPhone screen displayed fake incoming calls from various contacts. These included Diplo and initials like “JM,” likely referring to John Mayer, “RB,” presumably for Russell Brand, and “OB,” unmistakably pointing to Bloom.

In a humorous twist, Perry acted as though she was ignoring these calls from her former flames, ultimately answering only one call from “JPJT.” This is an abbreviation for Justin Pierre James Trudeau, her current beau.

The 41-year-old singer and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star, 49, first ignited romance rumors in 2016 after meeting at a Golden Globes afterparty. They dated until briefly parting ways in 2017.

However, they rekindled their relationship a year later and got engaged on Valentine’s Day in 2019.

The now-exes welcomed their daughter, Daisy Dove, in August 2020.

In June 2025, Page Six reported that they ended things amicably after nearly 10 years together.

Bloom — who also shares 15-year-old son Flynn with his ex-wife Miranda Kerr — and Perry have continued to co-parent their daughter since the split.

Perry was previously married to Brand from 2010 to 2012 and dated Mayer on and off from 2012 to 2015. Last year, Diplo confirmed that he and Perry had once dated as well.

Following her and Bloom’s breakup, the pop star has since moved on to a new relationship with the former Prime Minister of Canada.

She and Trudeau sparked dating rumors in July 2025, and went Instagram-official with photos from a romantic trip to Tokyo in December 2025.

They made their official red carpet debut as a couple earlier this month at the Tribeca Film Festival.

A terrifying incident unfolded when a mother and her child were quickly transported to the hospital after being engulfed by a massive ‘sneaker wave’ along the California coast.

The duo, whose identities remain undisclosed, found themselves swept into the ocean near San Francisco’s Baker Beach on Thursday evening.

Officials explained that the incident involved a sneaker wave, characterized by a sudden, unusually large wave that rushes much farther up the shore than its predecessors.

This alarming event occurred just over a week after another tragic sneaker wave claimed the lives of two college students on the California coast.

On June 10, Harshita Nair, 21, and Mahial Sran, 20, both hailing from Fremont, lost their lives when a ‘rogue wave’ overtook them near Bonny Doon beach in Santa Cruz.

CalFire told the Daily Mail that their deaths marked the fifth water rescue they had responded to along the one-mile stretch of coastline in the past month alone.

Baker Beach, where the mother and child were swept away, is located 80 miles north of this stretch. 

The pair was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. The Daily Mail has requested information from the San Francisco Fire Department, who responded to the incident. 

A mother and child have been rushed to hospital after a huge ‘sneaker wave’ swallowed them into the ocean off Baker Beach on Thursday. A stock image of Baker Beach is shown above

The pair, who have not yet been identified, were swept into the sea close to Baker Beach in San Francisco on Thursday evening. Baker Beach is pictured above 

Officials issued a beach hazard statement for coastal areas across Northern California this week. 

It was originally set to expire on Thursday, but was extended through Sunday morning after adverse conditions persisted. 

Forecasters and fire officials warned residents that sneaker waves can close in very quickly and without warning, while advising people to stay away from the shoreline.

According to the National Weather Service, those unsafe conditions were generated by a long period swell, which can prompt strong rip currents. 

Michael Horn, a spokesman for CalFire, explained why this season has been particularly treacherous for beach-goers in California. 

‘For the last week and a half, because of a couple of different large tropical storms in the Pacific, we’ve been experiencing really large waves,’ he told the Daily Mail. 

‘That’s not characteristic for this time of year. That’s not something that anybody would know that’s just a beach visitor a few times a season. 

Harshita Nair, 21, a legal studies major at UC Berkeley, died close to the shore in Santa Cruz

Mahial Sran, 20, a public health B.S. at San José State University, also died in the double horror

The two friends were believed to be sleeping on Bonny Doon Beach in Santa Cruz, California

‘This is not a time of year that you would routinely get huge surf. There are some very large waves recently. 

‘With that sort of storm surge, we’ve also been getting some much higher than normal tides, so that’s been increasing the hazardous conditions on all of our beaches throughout the central coast of California. 

‘It’s just a really good reminder that, no matter how educated you are on the ocean, you should never let your guard down. Never turn your back on the ocean. 

‘Check the tide charts, check what the ocean is doing, and heed the warnings.’ 

The ambitious $300 billion investment fund for Iran, part of a U.S.–Iran memorandum of understanding, is poised to face significant legal hurdles due to existing U.S. sanctions laws. This raises doubts about the feasibility of the plan, even if both nations move towards finalizing an agreement.

Digitally signed on Wednesday by President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, the memorandum seeks to end hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz for trade. The 14-point agenda includes the U.S. lifting sanctions on Iran, boosting Tehran’s oil revenue, and allowing access to global banking systems, among other initiatives.

However, one of the most ambitious elements of the deal—a proposed $300 billion private investment fund for Iran’s reconstruction and development—could clash with U.S. policies that label Iran’s construction sector as being under the influence of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

This challenge is more than a mere technicality; it questions whether a key economic promise of the Trump-Iran deal can be practically implemented under current U.S. laws. Experts suggest that if the fund relies on investments in areas deemed IRGC-controlled by Washington, the administration might have to issue temporary waivers or new licenses. Such a legal framework could deter long-term investors and complicate the finalization of any agreement.

TOP SENATE REPUBLICAN CRITICIZES TRUMP’S IRAN DEAL, CLAIMING $300 BILLION MAKES OBAMA DEAL SEEM LIKE ‘A PITTANCE’

A proposed $300 billion investment fund for Iran included in the U.S.–Iran memorandum of understanding may face major legal obstacles under existing U.S. sanctions law. (Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)

The State Department formally determined in 2020, and again in May 2025, that Iran’s construction sector was controlled directly or indirectly by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Under the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act, known as IFCA, that finding creates sanctions risks for people or companies doing business in the sector.

Miad Maleki, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control executive, told News Media that the legal and sanctions-related problems surrounding the fund are more complicated than simply asking whether Congress would have to approve it.

“I think Congress is unavoidable for a durable version of that investment,” Maleki said. “If we have a final deal and now as part of this commitment, the U.S. government and allies are going to have to go in and help Iran to set up this fund or get access to such a fund.”

Maleki said the president has meaningful unilateral authority to begin easing restrictions. Trump could revoke relevant executive orders, direct the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to issue general licenses and waive some congressional sanctions laws.

But he said that does not mean the fund would be durable enough to attract serious investors.

“Technically, the fund could be switched on through some kind of an executive action plan alone, but it would be on paper and it would have to be renewed every 180 days,” Maleki said, referring to waivers for mandatory sanctions tied to Iran’s construction sector.

An Iranian police officer stands on patrol near a poster depicting Iranian soldiers holding a net shaped like the Strait of Hormuz with U.S. military aircraft ensnared in Tehran, Iran, on May 9, 2026. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

“If you’re anyone who is in an investment-type business, it’s hard to find someone who would be investing in construction-type projects that take time,” he added. “These projects are not like 180-day projects.”

The concern, Maleki said, is especially acute in Iran, where investors would face sanctions uncertainty, political risk and an unreliable partner.

“It’s hard to find someone who would be investing … based on something that could not just be renewed if Iran, especially in the context of Iran, where you don’t really have a reliable partner, where things can blow up any minute,” he said.

A woman walks past a billboard showing a military hand holding the Strait of Hormuz with Farsi text which reads, “In Iran’s hands forever,” “Trump couldn’t do a damn thing,” “The control of Strait of Hormuz will be Iran’s forever,” in Vanak Square, in northern Tehran, Iran, on April 16, 2026. (Vahid Salemi/AP)

That structure raises a broader question about whether negotiators were truly expecting the memorandum to mature into a final, durable agreement.

“The more I’ve been digging into this memorandum of understanding, sanctions paragraphs of this memorandum, the more I have come to this kind of doubt that the negotiators really were counting on a final deal to be reached,” Maleki said.

“If you do get to a final agreement and you’re looking into actually meeting the commitments that you made, this $300 billion investment fund, it’s not something you can really set up,” he added. “I think it would be almost close to impossible to get something that would materialize.”

Iranians burn American flags during an anti-U.S. demonstration outside the former U.S. embassy headquarters in Tehran, Iran, on May 9, 2018, after President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. (Photographer: Ali Mohammadi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Maleki said one possible explanation is that the U.S. side may view its role as limited to providing sanctions relief, while leaving Iran and potential investors to sort out whether the fund can actually be built.

“We’re going to give them the waivers that they need. If they can’t find investors to invest in this, that’s their problem,” he said, describing one possible view of the negotiators’ approach.

The Treasury Department and the Iranian mission to the U.N. did not immediately respond to News Media’s request for comment.

The issue could become a congressional flashpoint. Because IFCA waivers are limited to 180 days and require justification to Congress, any long-term investment framework for Iran could force the administration to repeatedly defend why sanctions tied to an IRGC-controlled sector should be suspended.

The legal obstacles also come as critics warn the pact gives Iran major economic benefits while leaving some of the most difficult nuclear and security questions for future negotiations. Maleki said the U.S. had already built significant leverage over Iran through sanctions, military pressure and the blockade, but may now be trading that leverage for the reopening of Hormuz.

“We reached a point that we had leverage that no U.S. president has ever had with Iran,” Maleki said. “Yet we gave that away for this, for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.”

He argued that Iran is likely to use the process to delay rather than rush toward a final agreement.

“Iran is going to go back to its playbook of dragging, buying time with the sanctions relief-type incentives that I’m seeing in this package,” Maleki said. “I do not think that the Iranian regime is going to rush to get to a deal.”

A man applies fresh paint to an anti-U.S. mural on a building wall on Karim Khan Zand Avenue in Tehran on April 8, 2025. The mural features the slogan “Down with the USA” and skulls replacing stars on the U.S. flag. (Atta Kenare/AFP)

John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America and a former national security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, warned that any economic windfall from the agreement could help the IRGC rebuild.

“It’s almost certain that the IRGC will use any economic windfall granted by this MOU to reconstitute as much of their conventional military as possible as fast as possible — especially the vast missile and drone arsenal that the IRGC believes proved critical to the strategic successes they achieved during the war,” Hannah told News Media.

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On Friday, a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was reached in Lebanon, according to a U.S. official. This development comes after heightened hostilities threatened the prospects for transforming a temporary agreement on the Iran conflict into a sustainable Middle East peace treaty.

Planned discussions between the U.S. and Iran, set to occur in Switzerland on Friday, were called off due to the intensifying conflict in Lebanon. This cancellation has cast doubt on the timeline for pivotal negotiations aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz for international shipping.

A senior U.S. official announced that the ceasefire was set to take effect at approximately 4 p.m. Lebanon time (1300 GMT).

“Following today’s earlier exchanges of fire, we understand that Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire,” the official stated, speaking anonymously. The agreement was facilitated by U.S. and Qatari negotiators, with support from Iran.

The recent escalation in Lebanon, which resulted in the deaths of 18 people from airstrikes and four Israeli soldiers at the hands of Hezbollah militants, poses a significant challenge to the broader negotiations. The cessation of hostilities in Lebanon is a crucial condition for the wider U.S.-Iran agreement.

A senior Hezbollah lawmaker said Iran had told the group that talks with the United States could not continue without a comprehensive ceasefire.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson did not mention the talks but said the United States bore direct responsibility for Israeli attacks on Lebanon and that Tehran would take all necessary measures to protect its interests.