Fox News host Mark Levin (Photo: Image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
Iran war hawks are not happy with President Donald Trump for his one-page peace deal, seeing it as a shocking betrayal of the administration they championed.
The Hill reported on Friday that Fox News firebrand Mark Levin isn't happy about the proposal, which would pause the Iran nuclear program but only temporarily. The U.S. would then ease sanctions. Levin called the idea "disastrous."
“And here at home, despite all the blather about exit ramps and deals as the best political outcome for the president and Republicans, the opposite is true,” he wrote in an X post on Wednesday. “The Democrats, the media and the isolationists will declare the operation a failure.”
Hawks fear that such a move could embolden Iran. Pro-Israel conservative Hugh Hewitt turned on the plan too, writing on social media, “This would be a terrible deal."
"I hope the terms of any deal would be significantly stricter: No enrichment, ever. HEU to us stat. No more proxies. Turn on the internet. President Trump never gives up leverage. Why would he start now with Iran on the ropes?" Hewitt asked.
Trump has repeated almost daily for the past week that Iran "wants" a deal "badly."
Behind the scenes, the White House is starting to worry about the economic and political fallout from the war and the impact the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has had on global fuel prices.
Reporting on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal said Trump's advisors are trying to score a peace agreement to ensure lower gas prices over the summer travel months. Not only is vehicle fuel on the rise, but jet fuel prices have sent flight costs soaring.
Vice President JD Vance has raised concerns about the depletion of the U.S. military munitions stockpile. It could cause problems for the U.S. should another crisis erupt.
While some in Trump's administration are trying to spin a rosy picture of a deteriorating Iran, several MAGA media figures, including Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson, have gone into full attack mode. The two have been trading barbs with war hawks like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), both of whom believe the war is worth it.
The Hill noted that since Trump proposed the peace agreement, the men have been "notably quiet" on the matter.
Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish D.C. think tank, said on his podcast, “The right response is not to give them what they want for free, it’s to keep the vice tight."
He said he's fearful Trump could be easily persuaded "into believing the ceasefire is good enough and walking away with a deal that locks in less than the moment makes possible, that would be the squander.”
“Two and a half years of presidential authority; a regime running out of money, leaders and time; a population the regime can no longer count on,” he added. “That is not a position of weakness, that is the strongest hand any America administration has ever had against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”