President Donald Trump is facing criticism following his announcement of a so-called "deal" to end his war with Iran now that a tweet he wrote about Iran in 2020 has resurfaced.
A senior Trump administration official said Monday that the U.S. has proposed giving Iran access to a $300 billion reconstruction fund as part of a tentative agreement, which as of now is simply a "memorandum of understanding," between the two countries, set to be signed by both parties on Friday. This MOU defers the most contentious aspects of negotiation for a 60-day window to follow the signing.
The official stressed that Iran would only gain access to the money if it complied with the deal's requirements, including permanently abandoning any pursuit of nuclear weapons and avoiding activities that could lead to renewed sanctions. The funds would also be restricted from supporting terrorism or other destabilizing actions in the region.
But the central issue that sparked the war—Iran’s nuclear program—appears largely unresolved under the current agreement. According to a Pakistani official who spoke with The Associated Press, the deal ends the U.S. naval blockade, reopens the Strait of Hormuz, and launches a 60-day negotiating period focused on Iran’s nuclear activities.
Asked whether the agreement resembled former President Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Trump rejected the comparison.
Calling the Obama-era deal “a terrible document,” Trump insisted the new agreement was fundamentally different, describing it as a “very powerful document” and indicating that it could be made public in the near future.
Now that details of the agreement have emerged, a tweet Trump posted in January 2020 has resurfaced, drawing renewed attention. The post is particularly noteworthy given how the new deal revisits issues critics contend had already been addressed under the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.
At the time, Trump wrote:
"Iran never won a war, but never lost a negotiation!"
You can see the post below.
Critics pounced, considering Trump seems to have proved this more true than ever.
Funnily enough, Obama himself has expressed doubts that the Trump administration's agreement would differ substantially from the nuclear deal negotiated during his administration.
In an interview set to air Wednesday on Good Morning America, Obama said he was skeptical that any new agreement would represent a meaningful improvement over the 2015 accord.
“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,” Obama said, arguing that the original agreement had been effective for years before Trump pulled the U.S. out of it, as he did during his first term.
