At Ohio rally, Barack Obama says told-you-so on his approach to Iran nuclear policy

In some of his highest-profile remarks about President Donald Trump’s decision to launch the Iran war, former President Barack Obama lamented Trump’s decision to exit the 2015 deal Obama negotiated with Iran while speaking at an Oct. 24 campaign rally for Ohio’s Democratic slate, gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton and U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown.

During the Cleveland event, speaking about the Iran war, Obama said. “The original rationale was we’re going to go in there and get them to give up their nuclear program, their nuclear weapons. Now, the thing was, Iran didn’t have nuclear weapons because I had put a deal in place that everybody acknowledges kept them from getting nukes, and I didn’t have to fire a missile to do it. I just had to engage in diplomacy. He pulled out of it, starts this war.”

Obama’s interpretation of the Iran deal is shared by many specialists.

Obama had campaigned on a promise to ensure that Iran did not obtain a nuclear weapon. The negotiated agreement was signed in 2015 by the United States and Iran as well as China, Russia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Under the deal, Iran agreed to refrain from pursuing nuclear weapons and to allow continuous monitoring of its compliance in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. Different parts of the agreement were scheduled to last between 10 and 25 years; some elements were to last indefinitely. Obama officials hoped for future renegotiations.

Iran agreed to relinquish 97% of its enriched uranium stockpile and 70% of its centrifuges, which are machines used to enrich uranium. It also agreed to stop plutonium production and to dismantle a plutonium reactor. If Iran broke any of these pledges, the other signatories would be able to reimpose sanctions, a process known as a “snapback” provision.

Over the 28 months the deal was in effect, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it found Iran committed no violations, aside from some minor infractions that were addressed. 

In 2018, Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal. The U.S. then imposed economic sanctions on Iran, and Iran reduced its compliance with the deal, including curbing compliance with international inspectors.

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