Nancy Pelosi calls Obama Iran nuclear deal ‘masterpiece,’ says Trump pact ‘giveaway’
WASHINGTON, DC: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has defended former President Barack Obama's Iran nuclear agreement while sharply criticizing President Donald Trump's newly signed deal with Tehran, calling the Obama-era accord "a masterpiece of diplomacy."
Speaking during an appearance on MS Now's ‘The Briefing’ with Jen Psaki on Wednesday, Pelosi argued that Obama's agreement succeeded because it united major world powers behind a common diplomatic effort.
Pelosi praises Obama-era agreement as diplomatic success
Asked why she believes Trump continues to compare himself to Obama on Iran, Pelosi suggested it stems from the president's own record.
President Obama masterfully negotiated an agreement that prevented Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) June 18, 2026
Trump tore it up and went to war—only to lose the lives of 13 brave Americans, raise prices at the pump, and sign a failure of a “deal” that costs taxpayers billions. pic.twitter.com/TS1o0Fneyl
Host Jen Psaki said, “Just today at a press conference, he name-dropped President Obama in a press conference, which was a completely crazy press conference where he barely understood what was in the Iran nuclear deal to begin with.”
“Why do you think I’ve been thinking about this? Why do you think President Trump is so obsessed with Barack Obama?”
Pelosi said, “Well, I think it relates to his own failures.”
“You have to understand. Well, you do understand, but the public should understand that Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran was a masterpiece of diplomacy.”
Pelosi said the deal brought together European allies along with major global powers, including Russia and China, to create what she called a broad international consensus on limiting Iran's nuclear program.
“Remember that we brought in all of the countries, the EU and all G20 countries, all over the world, including Russia and China.”
“So to have this virtuoso performance of having an agreement on nuclear to do so in a way that withstood the scrutiny, the review of it all by so many people, and they have, and then it was a success. We were very proud.”
The Democrat also noted that the agreement underwent extensive international scrutiny before taking effect, arguing that its multilateral backing made it a significant diplomatic achievement.
Pelosi attacks Trump's new Iran agreement
Pelosi was equally direct in her criticism of Trump's newly signed agreement with Iran, arguing that it gives away too much while failing to address longstanding concerns about Tehran's ballistic missile program.
“For this president to have torn it up and now coming back was even what the Republicans said is a failure.”
“It’s a failure if we’re getting $300 billion for reconstruction to lift the sanctions on the sale of oil, but to so many things that, again, unfreeze the money and banks that they have wanted to have unfrozen.”
She criticized provisions involving sanctions relief, frozen assets, and reconstruction funding, calling the agreement "a ridiculous giveaway."
“Just a ridiculous giveaway and not addressing the one complaint that people had about the Obama nuclear agreement with Iran was that it didn’t address the ballistic missiles, and neither does this.”
Pelosi also argued that one of the chief criticisms Republicans leveled against Obama's deal, that it did not sufficiently address Iran's ballistic missile capabilities, remains unresolved under Trump's agreement.
