Former Vice President Joe Biden blamed President Donald Trump for escalating conflicts with Tehran on Thursday, criticizing the president for ending the Iran nuclear deal.
“He unilaterally withdrew from the hard-won nuclear agreement that the Obama-Biden Administration negotiated to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon,” Biden said in a statement to reporters, calling Trump’s Iran strategy a “self-inflicted disaster.”
Biden acknowledged however that Iran continued to be a “bad actor” in the Middle East.
“Make no mistake: Iran continues to be a bad actor that abuses human rights and supports terrorist activities throughout the region,” he wrote.
Biden called for a return to “leadership” to solve the crisis with Iran, but did not mention the billions of dollars sent to the rogue nation during President Barack Obama’s administration as part of the nuclear deal.
Trump ended the deal in May 2018 and put economic sanctions back on Iran.
“The nuclear deal threw Iran’s dictatorship a political and economic lifeline, providing urgently needed relief from the intense domestic pressure the sanctions had created,” Trump said while announcing his decision. “It also gave the regime an immediate financial boost and over $100 billion dollars its government could use to fund terrorism.”