Trump's Iran deal may not be far from one he abandoned: Obama

Former US President Barack Obama has cast doubt on whether a new agreement between Washington and Tehran would offer major improvements over the nuclear deal negotiated during his own administration, while urging leaders to rely on diplomacy rather than military force.

Speaking on ABC News' This Week, Obama said any agreement with Iran would likely resemble the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the landmark accord negotiated under his presidency and later abandoned by President Donald Trump during his first term.

US and Iranian officials said on Sunday they had reached an agreement to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping has been largely paralysed since the outbreak of conflict in late February. President Trump said final points had been "in both concept and great detail approved." He cancelled a third night of bombings against Iran on Thursday.

The comments were made before the agreement was announced.

OBAMA QUESTIONS WHETHER NEW DEAL WILL BE DIFFERENT

According to Obama, it was unrealistic to expect a dramatically better agreement than the one reached more than a decade ago.

"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 a long stretch of time before we, the United States, pulled out of it," he said.

The former president argued that the original agreement successfully constrained Iran's nuclear activities for years before Washington withdrew from the pact.

DIPLOMACY OVER MILITARY FORCE

While discussing the ongoing negotiations, Obama said the situation shows a broader lesson about foreign policy and conflict resolution.

"So, I'm hopeful that bombing stops and ordinary people are no longer suffering as a consequence of the war," he said.

Obama said that military action alone rarely produces lasting solutions and said governments should be willing to pursue agreements even if they do not resolve every issue.

"I think in retrospect, it's a reminder that on a lot of difficult foreign policy problems, the notion that we can just bully our way or bomb our way to solutions may sometimes seem appealing."

"The fact of the matter is that taking the time to explore diplomacy and exhaust the possibilities of coming up with deals that don't solve a 100 percent of the problem but solve 80, 90 percent of the problem while avoiding the necessity of going to war."

"You'd think we would have learned that lesson by now, but it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again."

TRUMP DEFENDS HIS APPROACH

Trump has sharply criticised the JCPOA in recent weeks. He has argued that the Obama-era deal would eventually have allowed Iran to move closer to developing nuclear weapons.

In a recent post on Truth Social, Trump said: "Barack Hussein Obama’s Deal with Iran, the JCPOA, was an easy, beautiful, smooth road to a Nuclear Weapon, which Iran would have had six years ago, and would have used long before now."

"My Agreement with Iran is the exact opposite, A WALL TO NO NUCLEAR WEAPON! In fact, they no longer want a Nuclear Weapon, nor will they have one, either through purchase, development, or any other form of procurement," he added.

While the agreement is still a framework rather than a final treaty, it marks the biggest step yet towards ending a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives and shaken global energy markets. The memorandum of understanding is expected to be formally signed in Switzerland on Friday.

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With inputs from agencies