Obama unloads on Trump over the Iran war and mocks the president’s diplomatic strategy
Former Democratic President Barack Obama has unloaded on Donald Trump for the Iran war, mocking the Republican president’s diplomatic strategy.
“These are not serious people. They’re not serious people. And the problem is you end up having to pay the price for their lack of seriousness,” Obama said Saturday while stumping for Democrats in Ohio.
The U.S., alongside Israel, started launching strikes against Iran in late February, with Trump claiming that Americans were in imminent danger over the Middle Eastern country’s nuclear ambitions.
But Obama argued that the issue had already been dealt with under his administration — until Trump unraveled it.
“Let’s think about this Iran war. The original rationale was, we’re going to go in there and get them to give up their nuclear program, their nuclear weapons,” Obama said. “Now, the thing was, Iran didn’t have nuclear weapons, because I put a deal in place that everybody acknowledged — kept them from getting nukes. And I didn’t have to fire a missile to do it; I just had to engage in diplomacy.”
Obama was referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly called the Iran Nuclear Deal, which the Middle Eastern country signed in 2015 and Trump withdrew from during his first term.
The deal restricted Iran’s nuclear program to ensure it was only using those materials for peaceful purposes in exchange for sanctions relief.
But Trump argued when withdrawing from the deal in 2018 that it “allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium and — over time — reach the brink of a nuclear breakout.”
Trump has insisted throughout the war that it would be a quick operation, but it has now dragged on for nearly eight months. Soon after the strikes began, Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, blocking oil tankers from passing through the vital passageway and causing fuel prices to skyrocket.
A total of 21 American service members have been killed and 865 wounded in operations related to the war, according to the Pentagon.
“So seven months later, how’s that war going?” Obama asked.
“Our allies and our bases have been attacked; Americans have been killed; hundreds of Americans have been wounded; we have, we’ve run down our stock of missiles,” the former president said, though Trump has denied reports of munitions shortages. “And Iran now has veto power over the Strait of Hormuz, where oil goes through to the world market.
“This is the reason why the price of oil is up. Nobody disputes that. This is reason the price diesel is up. This is why the reason the just about everything is up.”
Trump is hosting daily rallies across the country to boost Republicans’ chances of keeping control of Congress in November’s midterm elections — all while dealing with his deeply unpopular war.
