Obama says U.S. may be ‘worse off’ now than before Iran war

Former President Barack Obama said it seems like the United States has either returned to the status quo or is “worse off” now than before President Donald Trump launched the war on Iran in February. “We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, you know, put enormous strain on our military. A lot of people have died. And it feels like we’re back where we were before we started the war, except maybe a little bit worse off,” Obama said in an interview with “TODAY” co-host Craig Melvin that aired Friday. Obama made the remarks during a conversation with Melvin ahead of the public opening of the Obama Presidential Center, when asked for his reaction to the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran. “I am very happy to see a ceasefire. And I’m hopeful that it holds,” said Obama, who questioned the rationale for the war on Iran. The former president noted that under the Iran nuclear deal negotiated during his administration, “Iran had agreed not to develop nuclear weapons.” “This administration, or a prior version of this administration, pulled out of it, which caused then Iran to develop more nuclear capacity,” Obama said. Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018, during his first term. That agreement laid out detailed steps that Tehran should take over more than 25 years with the aim of restricting Iran from obtaining or developing a nuclear weapon. The current MOU does not fully address the fate of the country’s nuclear program. Trump signed the MOU during a dinner at the Palace of Versailles on Wednesday night. It sets a 60-day deadline for negotiators to reach a more permanent deal to end the conflict. During the interview with “TODAY,” Obama said that his new presidential center is a reminder of what America was like under his leadership. “I think it’s true and I think it’s a reminder of what America is. There’s no doubt that we are going through a period right now of disruption, polarization,” he said, adding that he understands that people “feel as if our democracy, our civic habits and virtues, our shared understanding of how we treat each other has started to crumble.” The former president said he’s glad that the center and museum remind people “not of the past” but of “what’s inside all of us.” “We all have the capacity to feel a civic responsibility to make sure our government works,” Obama said. “We all play a part in assuring that our elected officials are accountable. And that’s not something that I think we can afford to suggest is — is behind us.”