Former President Barack Obama said it was “doubtful” that any new agreement between the U.S. and Iran to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons will be different from or better than the deal he negotiated in 2015.
“It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place and worked, for a long stretch of time before we, the United States, pulled out of it,” Mr. Obama said in an interview that will air on ABC News this week.
Mr. Obama brokered a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, with Iran during his second term. Under the agreement, Iran would limit its nuclear ambitions, cap its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors to inspect nuclear sites. It also called for lifting some sanctions on Iranian oil and releasing billions in frozen Iranian assets.
The deal was popular among international leaders, but was controversial in the U.S.
Upon taking office in 2017, Mr. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the JCPOA. In an interview last week with “Meet the Press,” Mr. Trump blasted his predecessor’s deal as “stupid.”
“Obama signed that stupid deal where he paid them billions and billions of dollars, he thought he could bribe them,” the president said.
Mr. Trump said Iran was still developing weapons-grade uranium under the JCPOA, adding that the agreement failed to stop them from advancing toward a weapon.
Mr. Obama said he hopes the Trump administration stops the bombing and “ordinary people are no longer suffering as a consequence of war.” He also said he thought diplomacy was a better course of action to solve the Iranian problem instead of through conflict.
“Taking the time to explore diplomacy and exhaust the possibilities of coming up with deals that don’t solve 100% of the problem but solve 80, 90% of the problem while avoiding the necessity of going to war,” Mr. Obama said.
“You’d think we would have learned that lesson by now, but it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again,” he said.
