President Donald Trump said the agreement with Iran is a memorandum of understanding rather than a final deal and threatened to resume military strikes.
The statement signals a volatile period in U.S.-Iran relations, as the administration leverages the threat of force to secure more stringent nuclear concessions. By framing the current status as a non-binding agreement, the president maintains a strategic option to return to kinetic warfare if diplomatic goals are not met.
Trump made the comments on May 31, 2026, during the G7 Summit in Évian-les-Bains, France [1]. He said that the current arrangement does not constitute a permanent settlement. "No, it's not final. If they don't behave, we will resume bombing," Trump said [2].
The administration's approach involves an amended peace plan that takes a tougher stance on nuclear materials [1]. According to reports, the memorandum of understanding includes a 60-day additional nuclear negotiation period [3]. This window is intended to pressure Tehran over its nuclear program and general behavior [4].
There are conflicting reports regarding the formal status of the document. Some reports indicate that Trump and senior Iranian officials reached a memorandum of understanding [5], while other reports state that Trump did not sign such a document [6]. Despite these contradictions, the president has used the G7 platform to signal that the U.S. remains ready to use force if Iran does not comply with U.S. demands [4].
The current tension centers on whether Iran will accept the amended terms of the peace plan, or if the 60-day window will lapse without a final agreement [3]. The administration continues to use a combination of diplomatic frameworks and military threats to dictate the terms of the negotiation.
“"No, it's not final. If they don't behave, we will resume bombing."”
The classification of the deal as a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) rather than a formal treaty allows the U.S. to bypass the lengthy ratification processes of the Senate while maintaining a low threshold for exiting the agreement. By explicitly linking the ceasefire to Iranian 'behavior,' the administration is utilizing a 'maximum pressure' strategy to ensure that any final nuclear deal includes more restrictive terms than previous iterations.
