Nationwide — Former President Barack Obama said he doubts President Donald Trump’s new Iran peace deal will lead to major progress. He made the comments before the latest U.S.-Iran agreement was announced, pointing to ongoing uncertainty in diplomacy and regional tensions.
Obama spoke with Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts on Saturday at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. The interview came one day before Trump publicly announced a new agreement with Iran.
Details of the deal remain unclear. A senior administration official said it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, and transfer highly enriched uranium to U.S. control.
The latest agreement comes years after the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the Obama administration. Trump later withdrew from that deal, calling it the “worst deal ever.”
According to ABC News, Obama said he doubts the new agreement will differ much from the earlier one. He said, “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 had worked for, for a long stretch of time before we, the United States, pulled out of it.”
He also emphasized diplomacy over military action, saying complex conflicts rarely end through force alone and urging leaders to avoid further escalation.
Obama added, “I’m hopeful that bombing stops and ordinary people are no longer suffering as a consequence of the war. Then in retrospect it’s a reminder that on a lot of difficult foreign policy problems — the notion that we can just bully our way or bomb our way to solutions — may sometimes seem appealing, but the fact of the matter is that 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.”
He continued, “You’d think we would’ve learned that lesson by now. But it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again.”
Trump announced major combat operations against Iran on Feb. 28, following U.S.-Israeli strikes on key sites. A ceasefire followed in April, with talks continuing in Pakistan. On June 14, Trump said a new deal had been reached, and Iran’s deputy foreign minister confirmed the agreement, saying it would be signed in Switzerland.