Obama Says 'Doubtful' Any Trump Iran Deal Will Be Different — Warns Against 'Bombing Our Way to Solutions'

In an exclusive interview with ABC News' Robin Roberts, former President Barack Obama expressed deep skepticism about the Trump administration's impending nuclear agreement with Iran, arguing it is unlikely to be a "significant improvement" over the 2015 deal he negotiated and Trump later abandoned. The interview, conducted just one day before President Trump announced a breakthrough agreement, also served as a pointed defense of diplomacy over military force.

CHICAGO – Former President Barack Obama cast doubt on the Trump administration's new agreement with Iran, questioning whether it would offer any meaningful progress over the nuclear deal his administration helped build in 2015 . Speaking with "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, the former president said he was "doubtful" the emerging pact would diverge significantly from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) .

"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 and had worked for, for a long stretch of time before we, the United States, pulled out of it," Obama told Roberts .

A Decade-Long Political Divide

Obama's remarks cut to the heart of a decade-long political struggle over Iran policy. President Trump withdrew the United States from the JCPOA in 2018, labeling it the "worst deal ever" and initiating a "maximum pressure" campaign that culminated in joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, 2026 .

The new agreement, announced by Trump on June 14, is expected to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a strategic waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil passes — and end the U.S. naval blockade . A senior administration official told reporters the deal would lead to "the dismantling" of Iran's nuclear program and secure Iran's highly enriched uranium for the United States .

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi confirmed the deal had been finalized and will be signed in Switzerland . "All of our positions and important issues are included in the draft understanding," Gharibabadi said in a statement to Iranian state media .

A Warning on Military Force

Beyond the specifics of the agreement, Obama used the interview to deliver a broader defense of diplomacy. He warned against the notion that Washington can "bully" or "bomb" its way to long-term solutions, arguing that force is a blunt instrument that often fails to produce lasting results .

"The notion that we can just bully our way or bomb our way to solutions may sometimes seem appealing, but the fact of the matter is that taking the time to explore diplomacy and exhaust the possibilities of coming up with deals that don't solve 100% of the problem but solve 80%, 90% of the problem while avoiding the necessity of going to war," Obama told Roberts .

He added: "You'd think we would've learned that lesson by now. But it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again" .

For Obama, the fact that the two nations are once again at a negotiating table suggests that the military alternative to his diplomacy failed to produce the transformative results Trump promised. Yet even as he expressed skepticism, Obama said he was "hopeful that bombing stops and ordinary people are no longer suffering as a consequence of the war"