Obama casts doubt on Trump's Iran deal, says any agreement unlikely to surpass 2015 nuclear pact
Former president Barack Obama said he does not expect a new US-Iran agreement to be substantially different or a significant improvement over the 2015 nuclear deal, in an ABC News interview released Sunday.
Obama's skepticism
Speaking to ABC News, Barack Obama said it is unlikely any deal emerging from current talks would be markedly different from the 2015 accord his administration negotiated. He described that agreement as having worked for a long period before the United States withdrew, referring to Donald Trump's first-term decision to exit the pact.
It is unlikely that any deal that comes to be will be substantially different or constitute a significant improvement over the deal we had initially.
Diplomacy over force
Obama argued that imperfect diplomatic agreements are preferable to open war, especially in complex foreign policy problems. He suggested leaders should exhaust diplomatic channels and accept deals that solve 80 or 90 percent of a problem rather than seek to impose will by force or bombings.
He expressed hope that bombings would stop and civilians would no longer suffer the consequences of war.This reminds us that, faced with many complex foreign policy problems, the idea that we can simply impose our will by force or bomb our way to solutions can sometimes seem appealing.
Trump’s claim of an imminent deal
The remarks came a day after Donald Trump stated on Saturday that the United States would sign an agreement with Iran on Sunday, ending the Middle East war and immediately reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran has not confirmed that claim. Obama’s comments directly challenged the notion that any new deal represents a breakthrough, framing it instead as a continuation of the diplomatic framework he established.
