Obama national security adviser Rice blasts 'flimsy' Iran agreement: 'So many concessions were granted'
Source: ABC News
June 21, 2026, 2:05 PM
Former national security adviser Susan Rice blasted the preliminary agreement between the Trump administration and Iran in an excusive interview Sunday, calling the war with Iran a "strategic blunder" and arguing that the United States has now made "so many concessions" that amount to "a very bad outcome."
"It's egregious, Jon, because so many concessions were granted up front in this flimsy, two-page memorandum of understanding that wouldn't normally and shouldn't have been granted until after there was not only a full comprehensive deal to at least deal with their nuclear program, but also that those provisions that were negotiated had been agreed," Rice told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
Rice served as former President Barack Obama's national security adviser when the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was negotiated over a year and a half before ultimately being signed in July 2015. Under that multinational agreement, Iran made numerous concessions on its nuclear program and agreed to never seek or develop a nuclear weapon, something it reaffirmed in the latest agreement. Among the concessions Iran made were not enriching bomb-grade uranium for 15 years, dismantling two-thirds of its centrifuges, giving up 98% of its uranium stockpile and allowing United Nations inspectors to monitor its adherence to the deal's terms.
According to the text of the current agreement, the most sensitive nuclear issues are not yet agreed to on paper. Only one paragraph of the memo addresses Iran's nuclear program -- "The Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons" -- but on the issue of enrichment limits and dealing with the country's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, the text is not definitive.
Read more: https://abcnews.com/Politics/obama-national-security-adviser-rice-blasts-flimsy-iran/story?id=134071159