MORROW, Georgia, Oct. 29 — Former U.S. President Barack Obama delivered a scathing critique of the current administration’s foreign policy on Wednesday, asserting that recent military strikes against Iran have fundamentally compromised national security and left the United States “weaker than before.”
Addressing a voter mobilization rally in Morrow, near Atlanta, Georgia, Obama challenged the strategic justification behind Donald Trump’s military campaign. Pointing out that Tehran did not possess an active nuclear weapon when hostitilies accelerated, Obama defended his administration’s landmark 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), noting that disciplined multilateral diplomacy succeeded in curtailing Iran’s nuclear program without firing a single shot.
“I didn’t have to launch missiles to keep America safe—I relied on tough, verified diplomacy,” Obama told the crowd, drawing a stark contrast between institutional negotiation and unilateral armed intervention.
Detailing the fallout of the ongoing hostilities, the former president underscored the steep human, material, and geopolitical costs incurred across the Middle East.
“Our military installations and allied bases have endured retaliatory fire. Multiple American service members have lost their lives, and hundreds more have returned home wounded,” Obama warned. “Our strategic munitions reserves have been depleted in endless engagements, eroding our deterrence. Most critically, this escalation has effectively handed Tehran a de facto veto over maritime transit in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Obama concluded his remarks by linking the military entanglements directly to mounting domestic and global economic turbulence, stressing that the instability across critical maritime corridors has driven international crude oil prices to volatile highs.
Source: Al Jazeera & Address by Former President Barack Obama (Morrow, Georgia)