Former US President Barack Obama. Photo: Collected

WASHINGTON, United States, June 14, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Barack Obama said it was

unrealistic to expect that any deal between US President Donald Trump and

Tehran would mark a "significant improvement" over his own nuclear pact 11

years ago.

In interview excerpts released Sunday on ABC News talk show "This Week," the

former president also suggested it was better to negotiate a deal that falls

short of all of Washington's requirements in order to avoid an outright war.

"It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly

different or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first

place," Obama said, referring to 2015's landmark pact that Trump abandoned.

Obama said his own deal "had worked for a long stretch of time before... the

United States pulled out of it."

US and Israeli forces sparked the Middle East war in late February when they

launched strikes against Iran. For months Trump has bandied about a potential

peace deal with the Islamic republic, but that country's leaders have yet to

sign on.

Trump has stressed the deal, which he says would forever block Iran's ability

to produce a nuclear weapon and would lead to the immediate opening of the

blockaded Strait of Hormuz, could be signed on Sunday.

Tehran has not confirmed it will yet sign a deal, saying that for now there

was "no point" in peace talks with the United States.

Obama said the troubled progress of a new US-Iran deal is a reminder that

Washington can not "just bully our way or bomb our way to solutions" instead

of engaging in comprehensive diplomacy.

"You'd think we would have learned that lesson by now," he said.

BSS/AFP/SSS/2100 hrs