Under President Donald Trump, Iran has endured a debilitating escalation by the U.S. in the last 72 hours, and two strategies in particular tightened the screws enough to bring the Persian nation closer than ever to waving the white flag.
“The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding has never been closer. Pending its finalization, the media should refrain from entering speculation about its content. In line with our responsible and transparent approach, all details will be shared with the public in due course,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted to his X account.
Missiles and crypto: “A brilliant move”
On June 9 and 10, the U.S. conducted fresh “self-defense” strikes on Iranian air defenses, radar, surveillance, communications and military sites near the Strait of Hormuz. The escalation, involving Tomahawk missiles, aircraft, and naval assets, followed Iran’s downing of a U.S. Apache helicopter and came amid stalled talks over a potential peace deal.
Equally crushing for Iran’s Islamic regime was action by the U.S. Treasury Department, under Secretary Scott Bessent, targeting Iran’s cryptocurrency networks to enforce pre-existing sanctions and starve the regime of revenue.
“Taking crypto accounts, that’s really going to focus their attention, because they may or may not care about how their people are suffering, but they really care about their private fortunes that they’ve skimmed off of their society. It’s a brilliant move by the secretary,” Former Special Assistant in the Office of the Secretary of War James Robbins told Just The News exclusively
The strategy included sanctioning multiple Iran-linked crypto wallets (freezing roughly $344 million in assets, often with stablecoin Tether’s cooperation), seizing roughly $500 million to $1 billion in regime-tied cryptocurrency, and designating Iran’s largest exchange, Nobitex, along with others like Bitpin, Ramzinex, and Wallex, plus executives, as Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) on OFAC’s (Office of Foreign Assets Control) sanctions list.
A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a fixed value, typically by being pegged 1:1 to a traditional fiat currency like the U.S. dollar. By combining the speed and global reach of digital assets with the price stability of traditional money, they act as a reliable bridge between cash and crypto.
The moves were meant to disrupt sanctions evasion, terror financing via the IRGC, and illicit fund transfers, complementing broader pressure on Iran’s oil trade and shadow banking.
The effort, a novel approach by the Trump administration, revealed crypto’s dual role as both a sanctions circumvention tool for nations like Iran and a traceable vulnerability for US enforcement.
What’s in the deal?
The deal reportedly stipulates a 60-day extension to the ceasefire, ending active US-Iran hostilities and related relational fronts.
The revitalized Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) also features a number of commitments which Iran had previously expressed were nonstarters. Namely, and most importantly, that the nation would never acquire a nuclear weapon and would resolve the questions surrounding its enriched uranium supply.
The MOU also calls for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen immediately without tolls, and a 30-day deadline for returning to pre-war shipping volumes. The U.S. blockade would be lifted in return.
Faith in a deal
Iran has a long history of acting in bad faith, repeatedly reneging on international agreements, engaging in covert nuclear activities, and supporting proxy militias that destabilize the region, which underscores its untrustworthy track record.
Victoria Coates, former National Security Advisor to Trump during his first term, spoke to Just The News about what an insurance policy looks like to make sure Iran adheres to their promises.
According to Coates, Iran understands that “there is not significant sanctions relief for the Iranians up front, that they have to fulfill a series of benchmarks—you’re not going to get pallets of cash this time,” a reference to former President Barack Obama sending wooden pallets of euros and Swiss francs to Iran in 2016, which was heavily criticized as ransom for four American prisoners released around the same time.
Any new deal with Iran should therefore be approached with caution, verifying compliance through rigorous, ongoing inspections rather than naive hope, while maintaining strong deterrence to guard against further deception.
US and Israeli military actions
These recent actions follow the broader conflict that began with Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025. The U.S. then used stealthy B-2 bombers and “bunker-buster” ordinance to heavily damage Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, aiming to degrade its program without regime change.
Major fighting resumed in February with U.S.-Israeli Operation Epic Fury, which targeted leadership and infrastructure, leading to a fragile April ceasefire. Renewed brinkmanship over the Strait of Hormuz, proxies, and nuclear issues have defined the volatile period since, with calibrated U.S. strikes maintaining pressure toward negotiations.
Amanda Head serves as White House Correspondent for Just The News. You can follow her here.
Reprinted with permission from Just The News by Amanda Head.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
I am praying that Donald Trump understands that Islam encourages lying. It’s no different than him dealing with the Democrat party. Both are pathological liars. And Islam encourages it. So I don’t really believe that this is going to be a treaty that’s going to hold. They’re going to keep working on a nuke, they’re going to stick it on the end of a missile and shoot it at somebody. Probably Israel, because they are close and they hate Israel just as much as they hate us.
It does matter of the outcome, Iran being an Islamic nation negotiating with a non-Islamic nation. the USA, is not required to be bound to any treaty. This is clearly stated in the Koran. Iran will say they will adhere to the treaty but that will not happen. They will continue to do what is best for Islam. Any enforcers of the treaty will only be allowed to exam those areas that Iran allows and Iran will hide everything that they are doing in secret. Only undercover personnel will be able (if not caught) to let the world know what exactly Iran is up to.
President Trump is a shrewd dealer. He is well aware of Iran’s duplicity and has safeguards in place, along with Bessent and others in his cabinet. Of course, anyone can be fooled, but Trump et al are not easily duped. I hope for a good outcome.
President Trump has the courage and street smarts that Carter, Clinton, Obama, and Biden didn’t even come close to having. President Trump is a true leader — not an empty suit who tries to take credit where credit is not deserved. Obama is especially shameless in pretending that he was an effective chief executive.
A treaty to extend the cease-fire 60 days is not what I had hoped for. It’s definitely not what the majority of Americans will see as “ending the war” as promised.
It all feels like kabuki theatre to me. Any agreement with Iran, of any type, isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. It’ll be amazing if Iran even lasts 24 hours before they break the terms of the agreement. They are incapable of telling the truth, incapable of doing anything with integrity…and worst of all their Islamic religion supports this type of behavior.
I support President Trump and will continue to support him but this agreement is only one step up from what Obama agreed to and a complete abandonment and slap in the face of the Persian people. What a failure this is…and no amount of pomp and ceremony will convince conservatives otherwise.
Trump Administration believes it can deal with Iran! Iran is a radical islamic state that lies out their backside! We are giving them billions, letting them force ships to pay a fee to go thru that Strait! And we really think they will play fair with the world? How stupid are we? This is going to make the world an even more hostal place once Iran gets back up and running! You can’t negotiate with terrorists!!!!
Pretty sure that Mr Trump is very familiar with Iran’s history of deception and Islam’s encouragement of lying to advance Islam. Not do sure that Iran understands the consequences of lying or breaking the treaty.
Told you democrats, President Trump would prevail and make peace get nuclear bomb making out of Iran and take away every crumb of atomic dust out of that country. And he did it without having to blow the country up. With minimal casualties and no pallets full of cash. Jeffries said Trump has Obama Disorder. Don’t make me laugh Jeffries. You haven’t said anything intelligent, ever. Obama wanted and still wants to destroy America and Iran was helping him in that and President Trump stopped it. Of course Obama and the sheep politicians under him are all agreeing with what Obama says. Get a backbone and see the world for what it is. Communism is creeping. After all they have a whole generation that never heard about the conditions you live under in communist countries. NYC is finding out. The pie in the sky promises are just that. Not reachable. It’s only possible with dictatorial leaders like Stalin and Mao let’s put Obama and Mamdani in their place.
How much money did we loose under Obama with the mortgage crisis and inflation under Autopen Biden. Affordability has returned to the poorest among us. Medicaid and SNAP has been cleaned up. Fraud is stamped out in every govt department. Gas prices are coming down like we all knew they would. President Trump saved us from a nuclear war here and in the Middle East. The red line Obama drew in the sand was just that a line. No guts no glory. Thank you President Trump and Secretary Bessent for your actions. Without you Iran would still be working on a nuclear weapon and threatening Israel and other Middle East countries.
The U.S. and the rest of the NATO world need to understand that the IRGC is beholden to Allah and the Hadith’s of Islam. They truly believe they are to bring about their End Times events. They truly believe their only way to do so is having Nuclear weapons. You don’t negotiate with ideologies like this. It isn’t about money, it isn’t about things, it isn’t about family, it isn’t about anything material or relational. It is about their religious views.
The crypto freeze is a result of President Trump’s “business smarts.” There’s no way that bozo Biden would have thought of this strategy of hitting the rich in the pocket book. As for negotiations with a terrorist regime, I agree with those who have already posted. The Iranians are playing DJT for a fool.
Seize assets in the US ALL alone can deter Iran
I am 100% MAGA but do not trust Iran any further than I could throw FA Pritzker! First, the mediator, Pakistan, hid Osama Bin Laden for YEARS close to an army base! Then, of course, the Islamic Nazi leaders have NO obligation to tell the truth! Finally, when do the Iranian [Persian] people get ANY relief from their dictatorial leaders? I’d bet that 60 days from now, the mullahs and IRGC will STILL be recalcitrant and will not have done ANYTHING they are now saying they will do! We will be even closer to the election and Trump will have to resume bombing or give up. Sorry, I’m not optimistic at all!
The Quran gives the Muslim the right to lie to anyone who is not a Muslim. This is called Taqiyya. It will be interesting to see how Trump will be overcome this Religious Allowable.
Over 30 billion dollars for this? As far as forthcoming information, remember that we are still waiting for info from the Butler assassination attempt. Israel must feel betrayed. I would assume that any “deal” will not be well received by Democrats, Republicans or Independents.
Islamists are natural liars, like the father of their false religion, Satan. The Satan’s minions running Iran will do everything in their power to continue murdering for “allah”, aka, Satan. They’ll find new ways to hide it–probably via clandestine facilities outside Iran.
imo
President Trump is so far out or his depth , he should study the Scorpion and the Frog . President Trump is letting his Ego get in the way of reality . Iran should have been Crushed and sent back to the Stone Age .
Trusting Iran is like Eve trusting Satan.
I pray that President Trump has kept enough leverage to keep them on the right path. I am sure he knows what he is doing. I still believe the only deal the Islam Extremist will make that is dependable is through death where they are sent to collect their 72 virgins. I am sure the one’s that choose this route will be highly disappointed.
BOHICA, ‘Murica….