Struggling to win the war of public opinion over President Donald Trump’s deal with Iran, the White House has deployed partisan talking points for its allies to parrot.
The 80-year-old president’s deal with Tehran, which he admitted to Axios he had signed largely due to flattery from France’s Emmanuel Macron, has been widely panned as a shocking surrender on Washington’s part, as it gives Iran major concessions without curbing the country’s nuclear ambitions.
The narrative distributed to Trump’s allies, however, claims that it “solved a threat Washington spent forty years managing,” according to Bloomberg.
The talking points cover a range of topics that have been sore spots for Trump since the deal was announced.
In a section headed ‘The Top Line,’ the document talks about the deal as a masterful agreement and says “no President other than Trump could have brought us this far.”
The lines claim that “American families are the big winners,” and that “Trump’s strength brought Iran to the table.”
“Start with what this means at home. American families no longer have to fear a nuclear-armed Iran. They are going to feel relief at the pump and at the grocery store. And they wake up to a safer, more prosperous world and a more secure homeland,” the point about American families argues.
The cost of living has risen sharply since the Iran war began on Feb. 28, with gas prices in particular hurting Americans, even as Trump has dismissed the significance of the soaring prices.
The talking points then move on to focus on Trump’s emphasis on stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
“This delivers President Trump’s central promise: Iran gets no nuclear weapon. Iran committed to it in writing. The IAEA returns to verify,” the document says.
Iran has repeatedly said it is not seeking a nuclear weapon and committed to the same condition in the previous Obama-administration-led agreement.
The talking points also deal with a detail that has riled up even some Republicans. Under the heading ‘Iran earns its own money back, it’s not handed ours,’ the document spins the agreement to roll back sanctions on Iran, and unfreeze assets.
“President Trump built this so Iran’s biggest benefits come only after it performs. Here is the part the critics leave out: the money Iran can access in the near term is Iran’s own frozen funds, not a dollar of American taxpayer money.”
The guidelines also describe the opening of the Strait of Hormuz—which was open before the war began—as making “foreign policy deliver for Americans at home.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The administration’s glowing assessment of Trump’s deal comes amid worrying signs about the agreement’s fate, as the next stage of peace talks was delayed due to fresh fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, and U.S. intelligence agencies warned that Israel is likely to keep up its military operations in Lebanon.
Even Republican lawmakers are skeptical of Trump’s claim that the deal marks a major breakthrough, with some senators speaking out anonymously to The Hill to express “dismay” and report that they were “shell-shocked.”
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy wrote a scathing rebuke on X.
“13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” Cassidy wrote.
