Former Obama aides scoff at Trump's suggestion that their diplomatic efforts led to Iran crisis
President Trump finally spoke to the public Wednesday about the situation in Iran and where his administration plans to go from here.
While doing so, he took the opportunity to criticize his predecessor's Iran strategy, claiming the missiles fired at U.S. troops stationed at a base in Iraq on Tuesday were "paid for with the funds made available by" former President Barack Obama's administration, which orchestrated the Iran nuclear deal in 2015.
Unsurprisingly, that got some folks from the Obama years riled up. They wanted to make it clear that their diplomatic efforts didn't lead to the current standoff between Washington and Tehran.
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Obama's former Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes, who has been critical of Trump's approach to Iran, argued the recent escalation is a result of Trump's decision to bail from the 2015 deal, which he says helped prevent Iran from launching strikes against U.S. interests.
Many other observers weren't pleased Trump played the blame game with Obama, either, but some folks do think there is at least some contingency between recent events and the previous administration's Iran policy. Tim O'Donnell
