CNN host Abby Phillip on Monday highlighted stark similarities between the memorandum of understanding signed by President Donald Trump to end the war with Iran and a previous agreement struck by then-President Barack Obama in 2015.
White House Touts ‘Big Deal’
“Tonight, the White House is touting a ‘big deal’ in its talks with Iran, but the breakthrough is something that was in Barack Obama’s nuclear deal that President Trump tore up,” said Phillip about the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that Trump exited in 2018.
The “NewsNight” host then played a video montage featuring both Obama and Vice President JD Vance, who told reporters Monday that Iran allowing inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) back into the country is “a big deal.”
“And this is probably what we’re most excited about as Americans,” said Vance in the clip. He continued, “The Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country. That is a major milestone for the American people and the first step in permanently denuclearizing or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran.”
Obama’s 2015 Deal
Phillip then played a clip of Obama celebrating his own Iran nuclear deal in 2015. “For decades, inspectors will have access to Iran’s entire nuclear supply chain — from the uranium mines and mills where they get raw materials, to the centrifuge production facilities where they make machines to enrich it,” the former president said at the time. He added officials would have “the permanent ability to inspect any suspicious sites in Iran.”
Trump signed his memorandum, which is intended to launch 60 days of further negotiations, last week. It has since led GOP hawks on Iran to slam it as a strategic failure and Democratic critics to note that it at best accomplishes what Obama had already achieved in 2015.
The agreement includes vows from Iran not to “procure or develop nuclear weapons” and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and for the U.S. to lift sanctions, help develop a $300 billion economic rehabilitation fund and to let Iran sell oil during this precarious 60-day window.
Criticism from Both Sides
“Back in 2015, Republicans criticized President Obama’s nuclear deal, claiming it gave billions in cash to Iran,” said Phillip. “It actually was their own assets that were unfrozen. But Trump today said that he has lifted sanctions on the sale of Iranian oil for the next 60 days.” She noted the U.S. is also allowing Iranian oil to be imported “for the first time in decades.”
“So, I don’t know,” Phillip said Monday. “I mean, I guess if the benchmark is, how do we fix things that we broke, maybe this is a big deal. But not only was the IAEA inspections part of the Iran nuclear deal, but IAEA inspectors were in Iran up until last summer.”
The “NewsNight” host continued, “Right at the point at which Operation Midnight Hammer happened — and then it was after that that they left the country, because the Iranian government shut down their access to nuclear sites as a result of the U.S. attacks on Iran.” Phillip asked plainly, “So why is this some kind of breakthrough that JD Vance is touting?”
Panelist Reactions
Panelist Jason Rantz, a conservative radio host, acknowledged Vance’s statement was “premature.” He then argued Trump signed his memorandum “with a little more strength than we have in the past,” however, which led CNN political analyst Bakari Sellers to fire back.
“Yeah, but we went into it in peacetime,” he noted about the Obama deal. “We went into it not having at least 13 American soldiers have to be killed to get it. We went into it not having to have 168 innocent Iranian schoolgirls killed to get it.” He continued, “We went into it not having our stockpiles depleted in order to get it. We went into it not having billions of dollars of American taxpayer money spent to get it. So I’m trying to figure out where the win is.”
