According to a video from 03:49 posted on Fox News on Wednesday July 15, 2026, President Donald Trump criticized former President Barack Obama’s handling of Iran, saying his administration paid Tehran a large sum of cash as part of a nuclear agreement that Trump argued ultimately strengthened Iran’s weapons ambitions.
Trump made the comments while explaining why he believes past US strategy toward Iran failed.
Trump said Iran had been difficult to negotiate with for decades, describing the country’s officials as skilled negotiators who delayed meaningful talks with the United States for 47 years.
He said the Obama administration’s decision to offer Iran a financial settlement marked a turning point that worsened the security situation rather than improving it.
In his words, Donald Trump said, “Then Obama came in, and he just offered them a fortune of money.
“He paid them off. $1.7 billion in green cash and hundreds of billions of dollars. And that really set everyone else back because they started making, wanting to make nuclear weapons,” he said.
Trump said the consequences of that decision were only reversed after a B-2 bomber strike roughly a year earlier disrupted Iran’s nuclear weapons progress.
He said his administration’s more forceful approach, including continued military pressure, has since brought Iran’s weapons capacity down by nearly 90 percent.
Trump argued that his strategy, in contrast to the previous financial settlement, has pushed Iran closer to a genuine negotiated agreement.
He noted that Iranian officials reached out for renewed talks just before the interview took place, a development he attributed directly to the pressure created by his administration’s policies….See More