Trump's loyal attack dog turns on him over secretive new deal: 'Not enough'

Mark Levin, one of President Donald Trump's most reliable media defenders and a leading hawk on the Iran war, is breaking with the president over the peace deal Trump is racing to sign — demanding to actually see the agreement before it's locked in.

In a post on X on Sunday, the conservative radio host pressed for transparency on the memorandum of understanding the administration says it will sign with Iran. Levin asked whether the MOU "has... been released so we can actually read it," answering his own question with a pointed "Why not?" Briefing "selected reporters" through a "senior official" on the deal's "broad outlines," he argued, "is not enough."

The complaint lands as Trump pushes to finalize the agreement on Sunday — his 80th birthday. Trump declared on Truth Social that the deal was "scheduled to get signed" and that the Strait of Hormuz would be "OPEN TO ALL" immediately afterward, casting it as a barrier to a nuclear-armed Iran.

The reported terms help explain why a hawk like Levin is uneasy. According to Reuters and other outlets, the draft would have Iran reopen the strait while the U.S. lifts its naval blockade, releases roughly $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets — including direct cash transfers — waives oil sanctions and holds off on new ones, with broader nuclear talks pushed to a later phase.

The Sunday post wasn't a one-off. British broadcaster Piers Morgan, locked in his own feud with Levin, accused the host over the weekend of having "raged at President Trump for wanting to end the Iran war" and urging him to keep bombing — and Levin's own broadcasts back up the charge. As the fighting moved toward a truce, Levin declared on his show, "I hate this word ceasefire," and argued that Iran "should be forced to sign a surrender document. Unconditional surrender." After an earlier ceasefire, he warned on Sean Hannity's program to "make no mistake: they are the enemy," insisting the regime would not be contained "if there's not regime change."

He has been just as dismissive of the diplomacy itself, calling Iran's proposals "an absolute disaster" and branding reported drafts of the deal "disastrous," warning that an agreement along those lines would let the Iranian regime survive. That hard line has put Levin crosswise not only with the president he usually defends but with parts of Trump's own base — figures like Steve Bannon have accused him of undermining Trump's "peace posture" and quietly siding with the neocon hawks the MAGA movement claims to reject.

The details of the deal itself remain murky, which is precisely Levin's gripe. Iran has repeatedly cautioned against speculation about the timing and contents, and its Fars news agency reported the strait would stay under Tehran's control, dismissing Trump's "open to all" claim as "incomplete and inconsistent with reality." Trump, for his part, has denied Iran's account of the terms.

Also on Sunday, Levin wrote, "Iran’s Hezbollah continues firing missiles into Israel. This is precisely what I and others have been warning about."

It all marks a striking turn for a host who spent the war as one of Trump's fiercest defenders. But with Trump now moving to wind the conflict down and cut a deal that delivers Iran sweeping economic relief, Levin has shifted from cheerleader to skeptic — joining a chorus of hawks bristling at an outcome they spent months warning against.