Is Anyone Happy With Trump’s Iran Deal?
Left, Right & Center
KCRW
3.9 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 19 June 2026
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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President Trump is lauding his peace deal between the U.S. and Iran as a success – one far greater than the deal former President Obama brokered. But even members of his own party are skeptical that the new plan is any better. What goals did he achieve in this costly conflict?
America turns 250 next month, but the White House has taken over some of the party planning and one event is being promoted as a “spectacular Trump rally.” How do Americans celebrate the country’s birthday without the political backdrop?
And we answer one listener who asks if we should really be surprised that some Americans want a strong executive branch.
Producer: Leo Duran
Host: David Greene
Guests:
- Mo Elleithee, executive director at Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service - @MoElleithee
- Sarah Isgur, senior editor at The Dispatch - @whignewtons
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to left, right and center, everybody. I'm David Green. After over three and a half months of war, |
| 0:07.9 | the United States and Iran have agreed to end the fighting, for now at least. There will be a 60-day |
| 0:13.2 | ceasefire. The president says the Strait of Hormuz will reopen to ships and that he also plans to |
| 0:18.8 | put the war in the rearview mirror. We reached an agreement with Iran that achieves everything we set out to accomplish, |
| 0:25.5 | everything and much more, ending the current conflict, reopening the Strait of Hormoz |
| 0:31.7 | and preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon. That's what was all about. President Trump is painting a very |
| 0:39.2 | rosy picture of this deal, though we should say it's not clear the war is over. And the big agreement |
| 0:45.0 | in this deal is just to continue having negotiations over Iran's nuclear future. And if Iran does not |
| 0:51.5 | abide, we're going to bomb the hell out of them if they violate the agreement. I don't want them to. |
| 0:56.0 | So is this deal with Iran the accomplishment that President Trump says it is and do his allies |
| 1:00.8 | in Israel and also in Congress agree? We have Moalitha here on the left. We have Sarah Isker here |
| 1:06.2 | on the right. And the three of us are going to figure out all the answers to these questions that we possibly can. |
| 1:13.0 | I have faith. So let's get into it. I'm sensing some reservations about that. I mean, I do feel like there are far more questions than answers. |
| 1:25.8 | Mo, I'll let you dive in first. |
| 1:29.6 | Big moment, as the president is suggesting. |
| 1:32.1 | I will start with a positive. |
| 1:37.9 | If this memorandum of, I refuse to call it a deal because there is no deal and we'll get into why. |
| 1:38.9 | But if this memorandum of understanding means that there's less hostility in the region |
| 1:43.9 | for a little bit, that's a good |
| 1:45.5 | thing. But it is so unclear that we are in a better position than we were before this war. I'd |
| 1:53.7 | argue we're not. We're actually in a worse position than we were. Because the reality is, |
| 2:00.0 | according to what the White House has said, which is different |
... |
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