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Former U.S. President Barack Obama said the United States may be “worse off” than before President Donald Trump launched the war on Iran, questioning the rationale behind the conflict after Washington and Tehran reached a memorandum of understanding.
Obama made the remarks in an interview with NBC’s “TODAY” co-host Craig Melvin that aired Friday. The interview took place ahead of the public opening of the Obama Presidential Center.
“We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, you know, put enormous strain on our military. A lot of people have died. And it feels like we’re back where we were before we started the war, except maybe a little bit worse off,” Obama said.
Obama was asked for his reaction to the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, which Trump signed during a dinner at the Palace of Versailles on Wednesday night.
“I am very happy to see a ceasefire. And I’m hopeful that it holds,” he said.
Obama questioned the reasoning behind the war on Iran, pointing to the nuclear deal reached during his administration.
The former president said that under the Iran nuclear agreement negotiated while he was in office, “Iran had agreed not to develop nuclear weapons.”
“This administration, or a prior version of this administration, pulled out of it, which caused then Iran to develop more nuclear capacity,” Obama said.
Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 during his first term.
The agreement had laid out detailed steps for Tehran to follow over more than 25 years, with the aim of restricting Iran from obtaining or developing a nuclear weapon.
The current memorandum of understanding does not fully address the fate of Iran’s nuclear program.
The agreement sets a 60-day deadline for negotiators to reach a more permanent deal to end the conflict.
Obama said he welcomed the ceasefire but suggested the U.S. had returned to a position similar to where it stood before the war began.
During the interview, Obama also discussed the public opening of his presidential center, saying the center is a reminder of what America was like under his leadership.
“I think it’s true and I think it’s a reminder of what America is. There’s no doubt that we are going through a period right now of disruption, polarization,” Obama said.
He added that he understands people who “feel as if our democracy, our civic habits and virtues, our shared understanding of how we treat each other has started to crumble.”
Obama said he is glad the center and museum remind people “not of the past” but of “what’s inside all of us.”
“We all have the capacity to feel a civic responsibility to make sure our government works,” Obama said. “We all play a part in assuring that our elected officials are accountable. And that’s not something that I think we can afford to suggest is — is behind us.”
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