Trump Champions Peace Agreement, Threatens to Resume Bombing If Iran Doesn't Comply

President Donald Trump, in closing remarks at the G7 summit in France on Wednesday, threatened to restart the war if Iran fails to comply with the terms laid out in the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding.

The framework secures a 60-day cease-fire to allow time for further negotiations to take place, but if Iran doesn’t fulfill its side of the commitments within that timeframe, the U.S. will “go back to bombing,” Trump warned.

“I don't want to do that, because [the deal] is so good, but we might have to, because we're never going to let them have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

Trump extended the threat to include items not yet laid out in writing.

“We have an understanding of certain things without writing it, and if they don't honor that, we'll probably go back to bombing them until they honor it,” he added.

He failed to specify or elaborate on what those “certain things” are.

Championing the “historic agreement,” Trump said Tehran has so far been acting “very appropriately” and praised the “good negotiators” who led the Iranian delegation.

Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is expected to attend the signing of the deal in Switzerland on Friday, alongside U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance.

Trump said he would “maybe” stay in Europe to attend, but did not fully commit to a plan.

The agreement also outlines commitments aimed to ensure the full, toll-free reopening of the Strait of Hormuz—a condition Trump’s fellow G7 leaders have celebrated and vowed to support.

The President claimed that “maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has already increased very substantially, and a normal flow of energy will resume in the coming days.”

Iran has used the narrow waterway as a geopolitical bargaining chip since the start of the Iran war, effectively closing it down and upending the global energy supply.

The agreement also asserts that Iran can never develop or procure a nuclear weapon—a promise the regime has notably made in the past. 

Per the text, Washington and Tehran will address Iran’s existing stockpile of enriched material, “with the minimum methodology to be down blending on site” under the supervision of inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Trump said that Iran will work “closely" with Washington to turn over enriched material that's "very deep in the bowels of the Earth."

Remarking on the retrieval process, he told summit attendees: “When we have a chance, we'll do it, but in the meantime, we have cameras on every inch of it. Nobody can do it, and if they do, we'll hit them with Patriots.”

Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, tells TIME the “ambiguous” nature of the agreement text could create problems further down the road.

“There's a lot of points that are open to interpretation, and those can lead to misinterpretation and probably miscalculation, and the resumption of conflict one way or another,” he says.

He points specifically to the ninth point of the agreement, which reads: “Pending the final deal, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran agree to maintain the status quo. The Islamic Republic of Iran will maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program and the United States of America will not impose any new sanctions and will not deploy additional forces in the region.”

“The status-quo actually can mean different things,” Azizi says. “Iran is not enriching, but at the same time there is a stockpile of both highly-enriched and also lower-enriched uranium.”

He notes that such a stockpile could be used as “leverage” until a final agreement is reached.

The agreement also indicates that Tehran may be able to tap into a $300 billion development fund for Iran’s “reconstruction and economic development,” provided it meets commitments laid out in a final deal. The negotiations would also set out a plan for the lifting of all U.S. sanctions against Iran “in an agreed upon schedule.”

When asked about the funds, Trump said: “We have taken a lot of their money, and we have their money… at a certain point in time, I guess, we're going to have to give it back.” 

 “If we didn't give it back, nobody would ever invest in the dollar again,” he argued.

Trump says Lebanon's President will visit White House this month

The memorandum text states that the U.S. and Iran “by signing this MOU, declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”

But concerns remain that Israel’s parallel war against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon—and the trading of fresh strikes—could derail a permanent truce.

Throughout negotiations, Tehran has been adamant that any cease-fire with Washington must also end the hostilities between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, and that any permanent truce must lead to Israel withdrawing its forces from southern Lebanon.

Earlier in the week, Trump used his G7 platform to air his frustrations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Monday ruled out any immediate withdrawal from Lebanon.

At the close of the summit, Trump adopted a softer approach, while still rebuking his ally’s actions.

Referring to Netanyahu as a “good man,” Trump said the Israeli leader “gets a little excited sometimes” and admitted they have a “dispute over Lebanon.”

“I say you can do a little softer touch, Bibi,” he said, reflecting on their conversations. “You don't have to knock down a building every time somebody walks into it that's from Hezbollah.”

Trump said Lebanon is “something we'll have to work on a little bit… it’s a very small piece of the puzzle, actually, but it still makes a lot of noise.”

He referred to Israel’s most recent strike in Beirut as "unnecessary." 

Trump went on to say that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun would be visiting the White House later this month.

TIME has reached out to Aoun’s office for comment. 

Since the Israel-Hezbollah fighting reignited in March, early on in the Iran war, at least 3,783 have been killed in Lebanon, with 11,699 wounded, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

— Connor Greene contributed to this report.