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As Americans remain divided on the memorandum of understanding to end the war in Iran, star athletes who represent two of the countries most impacted by the deal have shared their thoughts.
The memorandum establishes a 60-day negotiating period during which the United States and Iran will attempt to reach a more comprehensive deal.
The agreement also includes provisions aimed at restoring commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and provides limited sanctions waivers tied to continued negotiations. Several of the most contentious issues, including the long-term future of Iran’s nuclear program, are expected to be addressed in subsequent talks.
But the current regime in Iran will remain in power, for the time being.
Former Iranian youth wrestling champion Sardar Pashei, who won the Asian Youth Wrestling Championship in 1998 for Iran, expressed disappointment with the current regime’s survival.
“Many believed that under President Trump, the Islamic Republic would become history. Instead, it was handed one of the greatest opportunities in its history to survive. The regime gained financial lifelines and political breathing room while millions of Iranians sank deeper into poverty, unemployment, and uncertainty,” Pashei told Fox News Digital.
“This agreement gives the regime room to rebuild its machinery of repression—new centers for arrest, torture, and intimidation. When an agreement offers nothing to the Iranian people, why would the regime hesitate to intensify its crackdown?
“Some claim that regime change has already occurred in Iran. What change? Has power been transferred to the people? Have executions ended? Have women been freed from the regime’s chains? Until then—not because commanders were killed or ships were sunk—we cannot speak of a new Iran. And what did this agreement bring the Iranian people?
IRANIAN REGIME CRITIC WARNS TRUMP DEAL COULD BE ‘LIFELINE’ FOR REGIME, CLAIMS PEOPLE ARE ‘NERVOUS’
“Despair, abandonment, and the feeling of being left alone with a regime that knows no moral limits. A regime not weakened, but emboldened—one that can now use billions to build more prisons, raise more gallows, and silence more voices.”
Meanwhile, Israelis have been among the harshest critics of the deal, warning the agreement does not do enough to safeguard Israel’s security.
Team Israel skeleton and bobsled Olympian AJ Edelman, who is American-born but represented Israel in the 2026 and 2022 Winter Olympics, called the deal “a disgrace.”
“We emboldened the regime,” Edelman told Fox News Digital.
“If Democrats needed to own Obama’s ‘red line,’ Republicans and Trump have to own ‘help is on the way.’ Arguably, the latter was far worse, because we actually engaged and all but won. It was the cost of gas and Summer AC bills that stranded the Iranian people.
“How did you lose the Iran War? Literally a Tomahawk missile at Kharg Island would have toppled the regime. Trump’s been talking tough on it for 40 years! Gas prices rose, summer was about to get brutal. Midterms. America. It’s hard to believe.
“It was an act of extraordinary political courage to engage. It is a shame and stain on the image of America First exceptionalism to pull defeat from the jaws of victory because of gas prices.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
President Donald Trump has described the arrangement as a means of avoiding a wider conflict while pursuing what he called a “great settlement” with Tehran.
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He has also argued that the agreement could help stabilize energy markets by reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping route, while creating an opportunity to negotiate additional restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities.
The president added that he agreed to a settlement to avoid “economic catastrophe.”
“I didn’t want to see economic catastrophe. If you kept this going, that could have happened,” he told reporters at the G7 Summit in France.
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance scrapped plans to travel to Switzerland on Friday for the next round of U.S.-Iran talks, the White House confirmed Thursday night, highlighting ongoing uncertainty over the timing and logistics of the negotiations with Tehran.
“As the vice president said at his press conference, the plans for the upcoming technical talks have not been finalized, and the U.S. delegation has been prepared to depart at the first available opportunity,” the spokesperson said.
“But the logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable. As of now, the vice president is not departing tonight,” they added.
“We will let you know as soon as we have a concrete update about next steps. We look forward to beginning technical talks as soon as possible.”
The remarks came in the wake of a newly signed memorandum of understanding, with negotiators originally planning to finalize a deal between the U.S. and Iran within 60 days.
