Fox's Trey Gowdy complains about the MOU: Iran is “better off than they were before the hostilities began”
Gowdy: “I read this MOU, if you will, I guess about 48 hours ago, and I didn't believe it. I thought somebody was spoofing me when I saw it."
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From June 17, 2026, edition of Fox News' America Reports
SANDRA SMITH (ANCHOR): Please do share with us where you are with all of this as we get a better understanding at the terms of the deal.
TREY GOWDY (FOX CONTRIBUTOR): Sandra, it is wonderful to see you. I was a little surprised, honestly. We literally had our foot on their throat militarily, economically. And I read this MOU, if you will, I guess about 48 hours ago, and I didn't believe it. I thought somebody was spoofing me when I saw it. Because I see what we are giving up, and then I see this word downblend, and I'm not the smartest guy in the world, Sandra, but if you can downblend you can up blend and how long would it take Iran to up blend because Donald Trump is going to be gone in January of 2029 but the so-called Supreme Leader is not going to be.
So here is my question for my fellow citizens: Do you really think Iran has abandoned its nuclear ambition? Do you believe them? What do you think they are going to do with $300 billion? What are the going to do with the oil revenue? Do you think they are going to build schools? Do you think they are going to make women's lives better? Or are they going to continue to target America and Israel? I happen to think the latter.
SMITH: So, it was vague, the details over how Iran will be monitored. What determines good behavior? What sort of compliance will be in place, Trey? It seems to be there's a lot of questions. Not to say it's impossible, but details would surely reassure the American public of this deal.
GOWDY: I will tell you two things that do not reassure the American people and that is the International Atomic Nuclear Agency, which people have zero confidence in, and the only thing we have less confidence in would be the United Nations. So I saw both of those entities in this MOU. Look, as you know, Sandra, I was a country prosecutor. I rely on other people for expertise. I have heard from the president. I have tremendous respect for him. I would like to hear from Marco Rubio and I'd really like to hear from John Lee Ratcliffe on the intelligence of whether or not Iran thinks they got the better of us. I guarantee we got the best intelligence community in the world. I would be really interested in what their reaction to this MOU is. It might be, I can't believe we got this because we were losing. We had them, Sandra. We had an economic stranglehold on that country. So when you go back to the status quo ante before the blockade, how are we better off? What did we get?
SMITH: Why do you think the terms of the deal have been agreed to then? We have been told that President Trump would not agree to any deal unless it was a great deal.
GOWDY: Well, I hate to be cynical, you know that. Don't we have midterms coming up? Are gas prices high? I mean I hate to be cynical. But I don't think it's a national security document, but I reserve the right to be corrected. I need to hear from Marco, and I need to hear from John Lee, and if they both tell me that this is as good as it gets, then I'll go back to being a country prosecutor.
SMITH: Yeah. I mean the economic pain that was inflicted on Iran throughout this, I mean, you talk about the hundreds of billions, the hit they have taken from the freezing of assets, the sanctions that have been put on them, and their oil transfers as we do look live at Marine One and the possibility of seeing the president shortly. You then look at what they are estimating, and this was per this phone call John and I were on a short time ago, that the benefit to Iran is in the single-digit billions. You wonder how that can be? If we unfreeze assets and lift sanctions and they're able to transfer oil again, they've got obvious access to a lot of oil, Trey, and that translates to a lot of money, potentially many billions.
GOWDY: They are better off than they were before the hostilities began, and that should not be the consequence of war. When you lose a war, I mean, think about it, Sandra, we went into Iran and rescued a downed pilot. We had total control over that country. We were winning militarily and economically, and when you're in that position, you negotiate from strength. You don't give people money. You don't give them access. What are they going to do with the money, Sandra? I mean, you've been following this issue for a long time despite your youthful appearance. You know that Iran is going to use this for nefarious purposes. We all know that. The regime has not changed. They're just richer.