Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday railed on President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, calling the decision a “serious mistake” and “misguided.”
Obama’s long Facebook post criticized Trump’s announcement, which nulls an international agreement made under the former president’s administration. Trump has long opposed Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, although the majority of Americans are in favor of keeping it in place.
There are few issues more important to the security of the US than the potential spread of nuclear weapons or the potential for even more destructive war in the Middle East. Today’s decision to put the JCPOA at risk is a serious mistake. My full statement: https://t.co/4oTdXESbxe
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 8, 2018
“The JCPOA is working—that is a view shared by our European allies, independent experts, and the current U.S. Secretary of Defense,” Obama said in the post. “The JCPOA is in America’s interest—it has significantly rolled back Iran’s nuclear program. And the JCPOA is a model for what diplomacy can accomplish—its inspections and verification regime is precisely what the United States should be working to put in place with North Korea.”
He continued: “Indeed, at a time when we are all rooting for diplomacy with North Korea to succeed, walking away from the JCPOA risks losing a deal that accomplishes—with Iran—the very outcome that we are pursuing with the North Koreans.”
Obama defended the effectiveness of the program and made clear aims at Trump, writing, “debates in our country should be informed by facts, especially debates that have proven to be divisive.”
He also warned that pulling out of the deal could leave the U.S. “with a losing choice between a nuclear-armed Iran or another war in the Middle East.”
“Going forward,” Obama wrote, “I hope that Americans continue to speak out in support of the kind of strong, principled, fact-based, and unifying leadership that can best secure our country and uphold our responsibilities around the globe.”
The post was Obama’s strongest rebuke yet to the sitting president. Read Obama’s full statement here.
H/T Vox