As some Republican senators and former GOP officials warn that President Donald Trump’s proposed deal with Iran would just be a repeat of the nuclear deal put in place during former President Barack Obama’s administration, Trump is pushing back on that notion, saying his deal is the “exact opposite” of Obama’s.
Obama’s deal “was a direct path to Iran developing a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump posted on his social media platform on Sunday. “Not so with the transaction currently being negotiated with Iran by the Trump Administration – THE EXACT OPPOSITE, in fact!”
President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, May 21, 2026.
Kent Nishimura/AFP via Getty Images
Trump went on to say that relationship between U.S. and Iran is becoming a “much more professional and productive one” and that there is ‘no rush’ to make a peace deal with the regime.
“The negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner, and I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side. The Blockade will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed. Both sides must take their time and get it right. There can be no mistakes!” Trump wrote.
Trump posted on his social media platform Saturday that “an Agreement has been largely negotiated” between the U.S. and Iran, “subject to finalization” between the parties involved. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that the deal’s «ultimate goal is that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.»
Iran has not yet signed on to or publicly commented on the proposal.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which imposed restrictions on Iran’s civilian nuclear enrichment program in exchange for sanctions relief, was signed on July 14, 2015, during the Obama administration. It was agreed to by Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – as well as Germany and the European Union.
The JCPOA was designed to ensure that Iran’s nuclear program would be exclusively peaceful and provided for the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions in order to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Two years after the deal went into effect, President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear accord during his first term in office, saying at the time «it is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement.»
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
