‘We got 97% of their uranium out’: Obama says 2015 Iran deal was secured ‘without firing a missile’

Former US President Barack Obama said his administration secured the 2015 Iran nuclear deal through diplomacy, stressing that the agreement was reached without military escalation, missile strikes or disruption to the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’, Obama recalled the negotiations that led to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), describing it as a carefully structured diplomatic effort aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

“We pulled it off without firing a missile,” Obama said, adding that the agreement ensured a major reduction in Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile while maintaining strict international monitoring.

“We got 97 percent of their enriched uranium out. They were able to maintain a modest civilian nuclear programme for energy,” he added.

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Backing his remarks, Obama said intelligence agencies at the time believed the agreement was effective. “Not only did I think it was working, even Israeli intelligence thought it was working. Even our intelligence services thought it was working,” he said.

Obama further argued that the agreement helped avoid a wider regional conflict. “We didn’t have to kill a whole bunch of people or shut down the Strait of Hormuz,” he said, referring to the key global oil shipping route that has remained closed since the war in Iran began more than two months ago following joint US-Israeli strikes.

The 2015 Iran nuclear deal

The JCPOA, finalised in 2015 between Iran and six world powers — the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China — aimed to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

Under the deal, Iran agreed to cut its enriched uranium stockpile by nearly 98 percent and accept strict limits on uranium enrichment. The agreement also allowed international inspectors access to Iranian nuclear facilities for monitoring and verification.

The JCPOA remained in effect until 2018, when the US under President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement, calling it “a horrible, one-sided deal.”