President Donald Trump used a phone-in appearance on Fox and Friends to criticize his predecessors over their handling of Iran. He argued that every president over the last 47 years has allowed Iran to expand its influence and power. Trump insisted that these issues should have been dealt with decades ago.
Trump named Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as leaders who, in his view, let Iran go unchecked, but he saved his harshest words for Barack Obama. He accused the former president of favoring the Iranians during the 2015 nuclear deal negotiations, saying, “Obama was the worst of all because Obama actually went to their side.” He stopped himself mid-sentence, saying, “You know he’s a… well… let’s not say,” adding that he would save that comment for another time.
Trump also went into detail about the financial side of the 2015 deal. He claimed, “He gave them $1.7 billion in cash, in green cash, put in satchels in an airplane and brought it to Iran.” Trump said the payment was large enough to fill an entire Boeing 757 and expressed disbelief at how the transaction was carried out. He argued that the payment allowed Iran to become significantly more powerful than it had been before.
Trump’s proposed Iran payout was reportedly much bigger than the Obama deal
Trump also addressed Joe Biden, who served as vice president when the Iran deal was being finalized. He dismissed Biden’s role in the process, suggesting Biden had no real influence, and called him “such a stupid person.”
Trump maintained that his own approach to Iran, which includes an interim memorandum of understanding, is far superior to the framework set by the Obama administration. Obama’s view on the Iran deal has been expressed in recent statements.
According to HuffPost, the 2015 payment Trump referred to was widely reported as $1.7 billion in cash, which included funds for the release of American prisoners and reimbursement for military equipment Iran had purchased in the late 1970s.
The current Trump administration’s preliminary agreement with Tehran reportedly involves a $300 billion reconstruction fund, a figure substantially larger than the 2015 cash payment. Similar negotiations for a new deal to end US-Iran fighting recently took place, but now the countries are back exchanging fire.
Trump’s remarks on the Obama-era payment centered on the physical nature of the transaction, cash loaded into satchels and flown to Tehran, which he described with visible disbelief. He did not offer an alternative explanation for why the payment was structured that way, but he framed it as evidence of poor judgment by the previous administration.
Biden’s actual level of involvement in shaping the 2015 nuclear deal has not been independently detailed in Trump’s remarks, and Trump did not provide specific evidence to support his claim that Biden had no influence on the negotiations. The full remarks were made during the Fox and Friends segment, with the relevant portion appearing around the 8:57 mark of the broadcast.
Published: Jul 14, 2026 09:30 am