Barack Obama Says US Is 'Back Where We Started' After 15-Week Iran War, Welcomes Ceasefire
Barack Obama Says US Is 'Back Where We Started' After 15-Week Iran War, Welcomes Ceasefire Published By, Last Updated: June 19, 2026, 23:20 IST Barack
Barack Obama Says US Is 'Back Where We Started' After 15-Week Iran War, Welcomes Ceasefire Published By, Last Updated: June 19, 2026, 23:20 IST Barack Obama says the 15 week Iran war left the US worse off despite a ceasefire, as Trump and JD Vance defend the Paris deal and oil price fears and nuclear talks persist US President Barack Obama with his wife, and former first lady, Michelle Obama. (File Photo) US President, Barack Obama said on Friday that 15 weeks of war with Iran left the United States in a worse position than when the conflict began in February, even as he welcomed the ceasefire that followed. “We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, you know, put enormous strain on our military. A lot of people have died. And it feels like we’re back where we were before we started the war, except maybe a little bit worse off," Obama told NBC News in an interview that aired Friday. Obama spoke to NBC before attending the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago on Thursday.
His remarks came days after Donald Trump signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran at the Palace of Versailles in Paris on Wednesday night. On the deal itself, Obama said he was glad to see the guns go quiet. “I am very happy to see a ceasefire," he said. “And I’m hopeful that it holds." Obama has long disputed the logic that led to the war. He pointed to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear agreement his administration negotiated with Tehran, which Trump exited during his first term. Under that deal, Obama said, “Iran had agreed not to develop nuclear weapons," but after the US withdrawal, Iran “develop[ed] more nuclear capacity." Vice President JD Vance, who championed the Paris agreement at the White House on Thursday, offered a different read. “The peace plan is already bearing fruit for America, as gas prices fall," Vance said. “Iran’s nuclear program is destroyed, their conventional military is destroyed and their capacity to threaten their neighbors is still largely gone." Vance asked for “a little bit of faith" in Trump over the agreement and said the president “is going to see it to completion." Not everyone shares that optimism on the economic side.
Neil Chapman, a senior vice-president at Exxon, told a conference in New York that physical oil prices could climb to $150 or $160 a barrel if oil stockpiles hit critical levels, given that the conflict largely stopped shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. “Once you get to that point, then you’ll see prices shoot up," Chapman said, according to the Wall Street Journal. On the nuclear track, the White House said Vance delayed a planned trip to Switzerland to lead a fresh round of talks with Iran. Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Friday that any future negotiations must respect Tehran’s “red lines." “If the enemy becomes excessive [in its demands], we have proven that we are ready to retaliate and will not hesitate to deliver a stinging response," Ghalibaf said, per Iran’s official IRNA news agency. Obama, in the same NBC interview, also said he hoped his new presidential center would remind Americans of a different era. “There’s no doubt that we are going through a period right now of disruption, polarization," he said, adding that elected officials must be held accountable and that “we can’t afford to suggest [that] is behind us." News18 Newsletter Handpicked stories, in your inbox A newsletter with the best of our journalism submit About the Author Anoshito Banerjee Anoshito Banerjee is a digital journalist at CNN-News18, specialising in Indian foreign policy, global diplomacy, South and West Asian geopolitics, and strategic affairs.
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