Former Obama officials call Iran war a costly mistake
Former officials from the administration of Barack Obama welcomed the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran while sharply criticising the conflict that preceded it.
Robert Malley, who helped negotiate previous talks with Iran, described the agreement as “an important and welcome achievement” because it reopens the Strait of Hormuz.
However, he argued that the memorandum was also “a clear and damning indictment of the war that preceded it”, calling the conflict a “reckless, costly debacle”.
Malley said major issues, including the future of Iran’s nuclear programme, the fate of its enriched uranium stockpile and the scope of sanctions relief, remained unresolved and could prove more difficult to address than before the war.
Ben Rhodes echoed that criticism, writing that the agreement “reopens a body of water that was open before the war” and launches nuclear negotiations that are narrower than those sought by President Donald Trump before the conflict.
Rhodes added that the war came “at a staggering cost to the entire world” while leaving an Iranian government led by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps feeling strengthened.