Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Newsmax on Tuesday that reports of a draft U.S.-Iran agreement should be viewed cautiously, but said any final deal must address Tehran's support for terrorist proxies and its ballistic missile capabilities.
"We have to be real cautious any time you get a leaked document and certainly a document that is a prelude to a final document," Meadows said on "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
"It is critical that Iran actually does a reversal of what they've been doing. And that is all about making sure that they're not a state sponsor of terror."
Meadows said U.S. interests would strongly favor provisions targeting "those proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas," noting that President Donald Trump has emphasized the issue.
While the reported memorandum states that "the Islamic Republic of Iran reiterates that it will never produce nuclear weapons," Meadows argued that important issues appear to be missing.
"That's the other thing that I hope that they identify in this. That was not in the document that I reviewed. Intercontinental ballistic missile, there's nothing about that," he said.
"When it comes to nuclear capability, there's no reason to have an intercontinental ballistic missile other than delivering a warhead to the United States and other places well beyond their current reach."
Meadows also said a final agreement should go beyond nuclear weapons and address enrichment activities.
"It goes beyond just a nuclear weapon. It should be the enrichment of nuclear fissile material, of which it doesn't really spell that out in there, because the only reason you would be enriching to the levels that they're enriching now is for a nuclear weapon."
Looking ahead, Meadows said the next two months will be critical.
"The next 60 days is going to be key," he said.
"They're going to get their foot off the boot, off their neck, so to speak, and the next 60 days they're going to have to come up with something finalized."
He added that Trump's advisers would closely review any agreement. "I know the president has a number of advisers who will be dotting the I's and crossing the T's. Hopefully they'll do that well," Meadows said.
Discussing potential economic incentives for Iran, Meadows pointed to language in the reported draft referencing large-scale financing.
"The real thing that's an opportunity for Iran is, do you want to have an economy that is a 21st-century economy?" he said.
"Helping facilitate that actually would go a long ways to bring Iran into a modern-day economy."
On whether Congress would have a formal role in approving an agreement, Meadows expressed skepticism.
"I don't see it getting approved or disapproved by Congress. I don't think the administration will allow that to happen," he said, noting that the Obama administration handled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action similarly.
Meadows also highlighted a reference to the United Nations in the reported document, suggesting implementation could potentially occur through the U.N. Security Council.
"Maybe what they're looking at is to have the implementation through the U.N., which is rather unique to see that in this document," he said.
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