Is Trump's deal in Iran different from Obama's? What we know
Kinsey Crowley- Trump said a deal with Iran was reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
- Trump has crticized the 2015 deal to curb Iran's nuclear capabilities and pulled out of it in 2018.
- The text of the memorandum of understanding has not yet been released, but the future of Iran's nuclear program is still undecided.
President Donald Trump has vowed that a deal with Iran would be different than the 2015 deal under former President Barack Obama.
Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 during his first term as president. On Feb. 28, the U.S. and Israel bombed Iran, starting a war that has killed thousands of people and largely shut down a major oil waterway, the Strait of Hormuz.
On June 14, after repeatedly teasing the US and Iran would reach a deal soon, Trump said the two came to an agreement. This week, Trump is at the G7 Summit in France, where the deal will be a major point of discussion.
Is Trump's deal different than Obama's deal, as he promised? The text of the agreement has not yet been released, but here is what we know so far.
Obama casts doubt on potential deal
Before Trump announced the recent agreement, Obama told "Good Morning America" his thoughts on Trump's handling of Iran.
"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 said in the interview conducted June 13, according to ABC News.
He also called for diplomacy over military action, saying, "I'm hopeful that bombing stops and ordinary people are no longer suffering as a consequence of the war."
What was in Obama's Iran nuclear deal?
The 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was an agreement between the US, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the EU, and Iran. Iran agreed to give up the means to make a nuclear weapon. In exchange, the U.S. and its allies pulled back economic sanctions against the country.
In vowing not to develop nuclear weapons, Iran also agreed to international watchdog monitoring of its programs.
See the full text of the agreement here: Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
What is in the Iran deal Trump announced?
The full text of Trump's deal has yet to be released. Trump said on June 15 from France that the deal was signed and the text would be released sometime after Friday. U.S. and Iranian officials are expected to meet on Friday in Switzerland for a formal signing.
Trump has announced at least the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened in exchange for the end of the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.
A senior U.S. official told reporters that the memorandum of understanding includes the possibility of sanction relief and releasing Iranian funds that have been frozen.
The agreement paves the way for further negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, a thorny issue that has not been resolved.
Contributing: Zac Anderson, USA TODAY; Reuters
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at [email protected]. Follow her on X (Twitter), Threads, Bluesky and TikTok.