President Donald Trump has criticized Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. He called it a failed attempt at bribery. This claim was made during an NBC interview, where he defended his own decision to start the war with Iran.
Donald Trump talks about Barack Obama’s deal with Iran
Speaking to Kristen Welker on Meet the Press in Wisconsin, Donald Trump dismissed the 2015 agreement as fundamentally flawed from the start. He argued that the deal, which saw billions of dollars flow to Iran, did nothing to halt the country’s nuclear progress. “Obama signed that stupid deal where he paid them billions and billions of dollars, he thought he could bribe them,” Trump claimed.
However, Welker challenged Trump on the timeline of Iran’s nuclear development. She pointed out that Tehran moved closest to weapons-grade uranium after Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018. Trump rejected this account, insisting the enrichment happened under Obama’s watch. “They were developing it during the nuclear deal,” Trump said. “You don’t know that?”
Trump then placed responsibility squarely on his predecessor. “They got all of this uranium during Obama, you know that, don’t you?” he asked. “That’s how they got there… They developed it during the Obama, Barack Hussein Obama.” Welker pushed back, pointing out that Iran “escalated their development” after the deal collapsed.
She then attempted to move the interview toward economic issues before Trump interrupted to justify his military action. “If I didn’t go in there with the B-2 bombers, they would right now have a nuclear weapon, and it could be that half of the world would be eradicated,” Trump stated.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was reached in 2015 between Iran, the United States, other world powers, and the European Union. Under its terms, Iran agreed to reduce its uranium stockpile and accept monitoring in exchange for phased sanctions relief.
Trump withdrew America from the pact in 2018, calling it unacceptable. His administration argued the deal failed to protect US national security and merely delayed Iran’s nuclear ambitions while giving Tehran access to significant funds.
