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Senior members of U.S. President Donald Trump's national security team remain doubtful that Iran will comply with the terms of the recently signed memorandum of understanding (MoU), multiple sources told CBS News, citing what they described as Tehran's longstanding pattern of making commitments it does not fully keep.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has expressed doubts about Iran's compliance, though he remains hopeful the framework agreement can hold, according to a person familiar with his views.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe has briefed Trump on intelligence that includes inconsistencies with commitments Iran made during talks on the MoU.
A Middle Eastern official told CBS News that the special envoys leading the negotiations are out of sync with Rubio, particularly regarding strategy for handling Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The source said Rubio had been leading efforts to keep the U.S.-Iran war and the Israel-Hezbollah conflict diplomatically separate, an approach bypassed by the memorandum's first point, which calls for a permanent end to the situation in Lebanon.
Israeli officials viewed the decision to include Lebanon in the MoU as a concession to Iran by Trump's envoys, according to the source.
"Continued fighting in Lebanon, even after both sides agreed to a ceasefire, risked derailing not just the first day of negotiations but potentially the entire truce with Iran," the regional source said.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Sunday on "Face the Nation" that he expects a diplomatic resolution with Iran to ultimately fail, though he said he would "rather try diplomacy than take it off the table."
"Let's try a diplomatic solution," Graham said. "I think it's going to fail. What happens next?"
Graham, who said he spent four and a half hours with Trump on Friday, laid out what he expects to happen if diplomacy collapses. "If this deal fails, President Trump is going to take the Strait of Hormuz over by force," he said.
"The United States will control the Strait of Hormuz, we'll charge a fee for all those who go through to pay for the operation, and we're going to expand the Abraham Accords in calendar year 2026," Graham noted.
Graham said any Iranian challenge to U.S. control of the waterway would be met with overwhelming force.
"If Iran contests control of the Strait of Hormuz by the United States, we will obliterate them," he said.
"So, to all the people listening, if this diplomatic effort fails, President Trump is going to take the Strait of Hormuz. We're going to run it," Graham said.
"We're going to try to get Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, end the Arab-Israeli conflict in 2026. And if Iran continues to attack Israel and Lebanon, the new policy will be, we'll hit Iran," he added.
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