Obama: Situation After Iran War Is Same or Perhaps Worse

With the U.S.-Iran war coming to an end following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), former U.S. President Barack Obama assessed that the current situation is the same as, or perhaps even worse than, it was before the war against Iran began in late February.

According to NBC News, when asked for his views on the MOU reached between the U.S. and Iran in an interview aired on June 19 (local time), former President Obama remarked, "We have now fought a war, we have spent a fortune, we have placed a huge strain on our military. A lot of people (13 U.S. service members) have lost their lives."

He continued, "I am very glad that there is a ceasefire. And I hope that it holds," before adding, "It feels like we are back to where we were before the war started. Maybe even a little bit worse."

Obama argued that under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached in 2015 during his presidency, "Iran had agreed not to develop nuclear weapons," but the first Trump administration, which took office after he left, "withdrew from the deal (JCPOA), and as a result, Iran has developed more nuclear capabilities."

This appeared to be a rebuttal by the former president against President Trump, who has criticized the JCPOA—a key diplomatic legacy of the Obama administration—as a deal that paved the way for Iran's nuclear development and provided them with large sums of cash, while framing the MOU he signed as a major achievement.

The JCPOA, an acronym for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was reached in July 2015 after about a year of negotiations.

The agreement, which involved Iran, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (the U.S., China, Russia, France, and the U.K.), as well as Germany and the European Union, included provisions to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of U.S. unilateral sanctions and international sanctions against Iran.

Specifically, the JCPOA allowed Iran to enrich uranium to a level of 3.67%, which corresponds to low-enriched uranium for civilian use, for 15 years. It also required Iran to dispose of 98% of its enriched uranium stockpile and restricted the number, type, and location of centrifuges Iran could possess for uranium enrichment.

The first Trump administration, which took office in 2017, withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and reinstated sanctions against Iran.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.