On May 8, I argued in an American Greatness article that President Trump should end the Iran War immediately with a clear ultimatum to Tehran rather than prolonged negotiations. The objectives had already been achieved through decisive military action: Iran’s nuclear program set back by decades, its conventional military and missile capabilities gutted, and its proxy networks crippled. Further fighting risked turning this U.S. win into another endless quagmire. An ultimatum—halt threats to Hormuz and guarantee safe passage for shipping, or face renewed and devastating strikes—would lock in those gains from a position of overwhelming strength.

The agreement scheduled to be signed on Friday in Switzerland does this. The deal is not a retreat from this vision. It is its pragmatic realization.

This memorandum of understanding halts military hostilities, reopens the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, lifts the U.S. naval blockade, and establishes a 60-day ceasefire period for addressing remaining issues, including Iran’s nuclear program. It fulfills President Trump’s longstanding commitment that any conflict with Iran would remain limited in scope and duration. There are no American boots on the ground. No nation-building. No open-ended commitment of blood and treasure. The war ends on terms that secure America’s core interests while preserving maximum leverage for whatever comes next.

Iranian hardliners are predictably crowing that this represents a victory for Tehran. They claim the regime forced the United States to back down and that they preserved their leverage. This is face-saving propaganda. The regime that closed the Strait of Hormuz and endured sustained precision strikes on its military infrastructure, leadership, and nuclear sites is now agreeing to reopen that strait and accept a framework that puts its nuclear ambitions under American scrutiny. A nation that began this conflict as one of the strongest in the region now negotiates from profound weakness—its navy sunk, missile production degraded, economy ravaged, and proxies diminished. Efforts by Iranian hardliners to spin their defeat as a victory change none of those facts.

Trump’s critics, meanwhile, are furiously peddling their tired line that this deal will be a repeat of Obama’s disastrous 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the JCPOA, or worse. This claim collapses under the slightest scrutiny. The JCPOA was a U.S. giveaway negotiated from weakness: upfront sanctions relief, pallets of cash secretly flown by the U.S. to Iran, sunset clauses, and weak verification that Iran routinely evaded. Obama’s nuclear deal merely postponed an Iranian nuclear bomb. By contrast, Trump’s agreement comes after a decisive military victory. It requires Iran to take concrete actions—reopening the Strait of Hormuz and halting hostilities—before any further nuclear negotiations begin. There will be no reward for bad behavior.

Most importantly, according to Trump officials, the incentives that Iran has demanded up front, such as sanctions relief and the release of frozen Iranian assets, will be performance-based. Tehran will receive none of this until it delivers verifiable results on dismantling its enriched uranium stockpile, accepting robust inspections, and meeting other commitments during the 60-day period and beyond.

Critics also have argued that the preliminary agreement is overly generous to Iran, pointing to reports of a possible $300 billion reconstruction fund, the release of frozen assets, and sanctions relief. These concerns are reasonable, but do not alter the fundamental strategic outcome: Iran has suffered a decisive military defeat, with its nuclear program and key military capabilities severely degraded.

Any incentives offered to Iran to reach a final peace deal must be limited, strictly conditional, and tied to verifiable performance benchmarks as part of a final agreement. Such measures represent a modest and reversible price compared to the far greater costs—in both blood and resources—of prolonging a war the United States has already won.

This is enforcement, not appeasement. As I warned in May, negotiating with Iran’s deceitful regime carries serious risks. Trump has structured this process to limit those risks. The military phase already delivered the decisive results that made a credible ultimatum possible. The diplomatic phase now locks in the central demands of that ultimatum: Iran must cease hostilities and threatening the critical Strait of Hormuz. If Tehran fails to comply during the 60-day period or in future nuclear talks, the United States will have full justification to resume devastating military operations. Strength created the conditions for this deal. Strength will enforce it.

There is a good chance that Iran’s broken regime has no intention of honoring any final agreement and will attempt to secretly rebuild its nuclear weapons program. Reconstituting that capability, however, will be extremely difficult. The damage inflicted on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure during the 2025 Twelve-Day War and the 2026 Iran War was severe. Crucial nuclear equipment smuggled into Iran over decades has been destroyed. Many of Iran’s top nuclear scientists are dead. Should Tehran attempt to restart its nuclear weapons effort, the United States and Israel stand ready to strike and eliminate any new covert nuclear weapon facilities before they are operational.

This is the America First leadership that Americans voted for. Trump moved to end a grave threat—Iran’s nuclear weapons program—that prior presidents kicked down the road to the next president. He used overwhelming but targeted force to degrade Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities without mission creep. Trump is now closing the conflict on American terms rather than Iranian ones.

Trump also avoided both the neoconservative trap of endless war and the progressive trap of endless concessions. The result is an America First outcome: energy markets stabilized, a dangerous adversary weakened, American credibility restored through action rather than rhetoric, and no new quagmire created.

The hardliners in Tehran can spin all they want. The critics in Washington can recycle their JCPOA talking points. The reality is clear. President Trump is trying to end the Iran War the way he said he would—decisively, on limited terms, and to the clear advantage of the United States. Friday’s signing will formalize a pragmatic triumph born of strength. That is leadership the American people can trust.

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Fred Fleitz previously served as Chief of Staff of the Trump National Security Council. He is vice chair of the America First Policy Institute. He is the author of North Korea, Nuclear Brinkmanship, and the Oval Office, which was just released by Texas A&M Press.