Congress needs to be able to review the agreement between the Trump administration and Tehran that is intended to end the Iran war, senators in both parties said Monday.

President Donald Trump announced Sunday that the United States and Iran had reached a memorandum of understanding to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin more comprehensive negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program and sanctions relief.

The deal has been signed electronically, while a formal, in-person signing ceremony is scheduled for Friday in Geneva, Trump said Monday.

While the United States and Iran have both been touting wins in the deal, no actual text has been released — making it impossible to parse who’s telling the truth and leaving U.S. lawmakers clamoring for more details.

“Trump must release the details publicly, brief Congress immediately and end this war for good,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement Monday.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a staunch Iran hawk who has been skeptical of negotiations, expressed concern that “Iran’s view of the agreement seems different” from what the American negotiating team is claiming.

“Under our law, any nuclear deal with Iran will be sent to Congress for review and a vote. I look forward to reviewing the final product and I believe it is imperative that the architect of the deal, Vice President Vance and his negotiating partners, be part of the process in presenting the final deal to Congress,” Graham wrote on social media Sunday, adding that “time will tell” whether the deal is acceptable.

Graham was referring to the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, or INARA, which Congress passed in 2015 to ensure lawmakers had a say in the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran.

While the impetus for the law was the Obama administration deal, it applies to any nuclear agreement with Iran. Under INARA, a deal must be transmitted to Congress within five days of being reached, and Congress then has 30 days to vote on a resolution of disapproval.

The memorandum of understanding reached over the weekend leaves for later the question of Iran’s nuclear program, both countries say. Rather, the agreement starts a 60-day clock for talks about Iran’s nuclear program and relief from U.S. sanctions.

Little about the MOU beyond that is clear. For example, while Trump said the agreement stipulates the Strait of Hormuz will open and be “permanently toll free,” Iranian state media said Monday that Tehran plans to impose fees after the initial 60-day MOU period. Iranian officials are also claiming the country’s frozen assets abroad will be immediately unfrozen, while U.S. officials insist funds won’t be released until Iran meets certain commitments.

Trump said Monday the text of the deal will be released after the signing ceremony Friday, while other administration officials told reporters Monday it would be released in 24 to 48 hours.

Lingering questions

In the meantime, U.S. lawmakers are in the dark.

“I don’t think even the people who follow this stuff closely up here know that much about it either,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Monday afternoon, adding that he himself didn’t know enough to make a judgment about the deal.

Thune also said he expects administration officials to brief senators on the MOU since “for sure our members are going to have a lot of questions about it.”

“I know there is probably some expectation that there may be a vote at some point, whether that’s on a resolution of disapproval or something, we’ll see,” he added, in apparent reference to INARA.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., brushed off concerns about the MOU not being sent to Congress yet, but made clear he believes lawmakers will have to vote on the final deal “if they want it to be something other than a political agreement.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who is retiring from the Senate at the end of this Congress, expressed hope that a “more profound agreement” can be reached after the MOU, but said he is “of course” concerned the preliminary deal hasn’t been shared with Congress.

“I mean, if it’s a secret deal, then how can I take it seriously,” he said.

While Democrats have been calling for an end to the war since it started, they too are skeptical of the MOU.

“If the terms they’re discussing are real, it’s essentially a surrender to Iran on Iran’s terms,” Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., told reporters Monday. “Now, I will support that surrender, because this crowd of incompetent national security leaders is making the situation worse every day. I think the only thing we can do is end the war.”

Democrats have been trying to force an end to the war through a war powers resolution. The Senate advanced a joint resolution last month but has yet to take the next vote on the measure as the sponsor, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., mulls the best approach.

The House adopted a similar Iran war powers resolution earlier this month, giving Kaine the option of pressing forward with his measure or calling up the House version.

On Monday, Kaine told reporters he was still deciding which measure to call up, but that he expects a vote on one of them later this week. The MOU is not changing his decision-making, he added.

“I think actually a cessation might help us get some more votes on the theory, let’s not restart again unless we all think this is the right thing to do,” Kaine said.

In a statement earlier Monday, Kaine also reminded the administration of its obligations under INARA.

“The details of any agreement with the Iranian regime, including any financial or sanctions relief, must be carefully scrutinized,” Kaine said in the statement. “I echo my Republican colleagues in reminding the Trump administration that any comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran must, by law, be submitted to Congress for review before it can take effect.”

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