Former President Barack Obama said the United States may be “worse off” than it was before the Iran war began, delivering his sharpest criticism yet of the Trump administration's foreign policy conduct.
Obama cited the human and financial costs of the conflict, questioning whether the military engagement had produced any strategic gain for the country, according to reporting by The Hill published Tuesday.
The rebuke lands as the administration continues to defend the war effort amid rising casualty figures and unspecified expenditure. Obama did not outline a specific dollar figure but framed the losses as exceeding any discernible benefit.
The remarks also drew attention back to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — the nuclear agreement Obama negotiated and the Trump administration abandoned — which critics say left a diplomatic vacuum the war has since filled.
Obama stopped short of calling for an immediate withdrawal but made clear he views the current trajectory as a policy failure.
Congressional oversight hearings on the Iran operation are expected to resume before month's end, with senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee already signaling fresh subpoenas for administration war cost documents.