Rising diplomatic friction has emerged between long-time allies the United States and Israel after Washington turned down Jerusalem’s formal request to obtain the full text of a newly signed bilateral agreement between the US and Iran, multiple US and Israeli media outlets have confirmed.
ABC News reported Tuesday that while senior Israeli officials have received a general verbal briefing on the contents of the 60-day ceasefire memorandum of understanding (MOU), the full written document has not been shared with Israeli authorities. The MOU, which was signed digitally by representatives of both Tehran and Washington this past Sunday, mandates a 60-day extension of a fragile ceasefire between the two nations and secures the reopening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global oil shipments. To date, the full fine print of the agreement remains undisclosed to the public and many key regional stakeholders.
Top US officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have already appeared on major broadcast networks to defend the new diplomatic deal. During his televised remarks, Vance emphasized that the most promising outcome of this new diplomatic outreach is the reestablishment of direct bilateral dialogue between Washington and Tehran after years of frozen communications.
This new MOU comes nearly a decade after the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the landmark nuclear deal negotiated between Iran and the US under then-President Barack Obama following months of intensive high-level negotiations. That framework collapsed in 2018, when then-President Donald Trump — who currently holds the Oval Office again — ordered a unilateral US withdrawal from the agreement and rolled out a harsh “maximum pressure” campaign that imposed crippling economic sanctions on Iran.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit in France on Tuesday, Trump announced plans to transmit the full text of the new MOU to Congress for review and release it publicly. A formal in-person signing ceremony for the agreement is currently scheduled to take place in Geneva, Switzerland this coming Friday.
“I never thought about sending it… but I will. I will send it to Congress,” Trump told assembled journalists. He added that he plans to share every detail of the document with the public, saying: “I will probably have a press conference and read it to you word by word so that the press covers it accurately.”
Despite the president’s promise of transparency, the fact that Israel has been denied full access to the text has reinforced deep existing concerns across the Middle East that the agreement disproportionately benefits Iran and fails to deliver on core war goals shared by both the US and Israel. Leading Israeli outlet Yediot Aharonot already labeled the MOU a “Bad Deal” in its coverage this week.
Avigdor Liberman, a prominent right-wing Israeli political figure and former defense minister, criticized the agreement during an interview with Israel’s 103FM radio. “This agreement definitely turns Iran into a nuclear power,” Liberman argued. Even so, he acknowledged that Israel has no leverage to reject any deal the US negotiates, noting: “We need to live with this. I have no complaints against the Americans. There are people here who expect the US to act according to Israeli interests, but no. I thank the US for what they have done.”
Trump has pushed back forcefully against any criticism of the deal from Israeli leaders. During his appearance at the G-7 conference, seated alongside the ruler of Qatar, Trump issued a sharp rebuke: “If it weren’t for the United States of America…Israel would not exist right now. Israel would have been blown off the face of the earth.”