President Donald Trump on Wednesday flipped out when talking about former President Barack Obama's Iran deal as he flailed when trying to boost his yet-to-be-finalized agreement with Tehran.
Trump raged about his predecessor as he spoke to reporters during the last day of the G7 summit in France, with the draft U.S.-Iran deal — which is scheduled to be officially signed Friday in Switzerland — looming large.
The president has repeatedly attempted to flex about his agreement in comparison to the Obama-era deal, even though few details have been publicly released about Trump's memorandum of understanding. CNN and Bloomberg News have released a copy of the deal's text.
On Wednesday, Trump railed about Obama giving Iran "$1.7 billion in cash" — a familiar attack — in reference to the 2015 deal that was designed to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Trump withdrew from that deal — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — during his first term in office.
Under the Obama program, Iran was granted significant sanctions relief, amounting to billions of dollars, in exchange for limits on uranium enrichment and other restrictions. By contrast, Trump's deal is said to include an investment in a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran — though where the money is coming from is contested by the Trump administration.
Regardless of the detail, Trump dropped an expletive when holding forth on how he saw both deals. "And you know what the Iranians did? They laughed at Obama, and they said he's a stupid son of a bitch," Trump said, without evidence, before wrapping up the briefing.
Earlier, Trump described the memorandum of understanding as a "very strong deal," while warning that Tehran would face dire consequences if he doesn't like the final text of the deal. "No, it's not final. It's a memorandum of understanding, and if I don't like it, we'll go back to shooting at 'em, dropping bombs on their head," the president said. "If I don't like it, if they don't behave, we'll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head."
Trump also disputed suggestions that the U.S. is part of the $300 billion reconstruction fund. "We're not investing, we're not putting up 10 cents," he said.
