Former President Barack Obama said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave him the same pitch on striking Iran that President Donald Trump got, but Obama chose diplomacy over military action.
Speaking in an interview with the New Yorker, the former president said Netanyahu repeatedly pressed the United States to take a more aggressive stance toward Iran, including the possibility of military strikes.
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Obama said he resisted Netanyahu’s pitch and instead chose to take a diplomatic approach to Iran.
“I think my prognosis was accurate,” Obama said, adding that he questions whether military action was best for the American and Israeli people.
Rather than agreeing to joint strikes with Israel, Obama sought negotiations with Iran, which ultimately led to the 2015 nuclear agreement. That deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, placed limits on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Netanyahu strongly opposed the agreement, warning it would not prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and instead empower the country economically and militarily. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear deal in 2018, reimposing sanctions on Iran and aligning more closely with Netanyahu’s position.
Since then, tensions with Iran have ebbed and flowed, but intensified again when Israel and the U.S. issued joint strikes on Iran.
Trump initially said military operations in Iran would last four to six weeks, but the war is now headed into its third month. A temporary ceasefire agreement had been reached, but the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program were a cause for disagreement between the diplomats.
The president initiated “Project Freedom” on Monday morning to escort shipping vessels trapped in the strait due to Iran’s closure of the waterway, but Tehran took the initiative as a violation of the ceasefire.
Obama said Trump’s actions in Iran, combined with other controversial ventures, including tariffs and threats to seize Greenland, could strain relationships with allies. He said American allies “can no longer count on us being the hub of that international order.”
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The former president said the greatest threat of strained global ties is that there is “no one that can replace us,” adding that the U.S. must act as a global leader.
“Our leadership is still going to matter enormously, but it’s probably going to start with leadership by example more than anything else, rather than dictates,” Obama said.
