Donald Trump sharply escalated his rhetoric against Iran and former President Barack Obama on Saturday, accusing Obama of financially empowering Tehran while delicate ceasefire negotiations between Washington and Iran remain deadlocked.
In a lengthy post published on Truth Social on 10 May, Trump argued that decades of Iranian resistance to U.S. pressure reached a turning point during the Obama administration, which he blamed for reviving the Islamic Republic economically and diplomatically through the 2015 nuclear agreement.
"Iran had been playing games with the United States, and the rest of the World, for 47 years (DELAY, DELAY, DELAY!), and then finally hit 'pay dirt' when Barack Hussein Obama became President," Trump wrote.
The president accused Obama of abandoning long-standing U.S. allies while strengthening Tehran's position in the Middle East. He wrote that Obama was "actually going to their side, jettisoning Israel, and all other Allies, and giving Iran a major and very powerful new lease on life."
Trump also revived one of his most familiar criticisms of the Obama-era nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, claiming that Iran benefited financially while continuing to advance its regional influence.
"Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and 1.7 Billion Dollars in green cash, flown into Tehran, was handed to them on a silver platter," Trump wrote.
The post then shifted into direct attacks on Obama and former President Joe Biden. Trump described Obama as "the greatest SUCKER of them all, in the form of a weak and stupid American President," while saying Biden was "not as bad" but still "a disaster."
The remarks arrived at a highly sensitive moment for U.S.-Iran diplomacy. A fragile ceasefire brokered in April with assistance from Pakistan halted weeks of U.S. and Israeli military strikes on Iranian targets, but negotiations aimed at securing a broader agreement have made little progress.
According to analysis published by the Council on Foreign Relations, discussions remain stalled because "there is little overlap between the United States and Iran's demands." One of the largest unresolved disputes remains Iran's uranium enrichment programme, which Washington insists must be dismantled entirely as part of any long-term settlement.
At the same time, the Strait of Hormuz - a critical artery for global oil supplies - remains effectively closed following Iranian actions earlier this year. The United States has maintained naval pressure around Iranian ports, while Iranian officials have characterized the American blockade posture as an act of war.
Trump has repeatedly framed the current negotiations as an attempt to secure a stronger arrangement than Obama's nuclear deal. In a separate Truth Social post earlier this year, he dismissed the 2015 agreement as a "guaranteed Road to a Nuclear Weapon" and insisted any accord reached under his administration would be "FAR BETTER."
Behind the scenes, however, some administration officials have reportedly expressed concern that Trump's increasingly confrontational social-media messaging risks complicating already fragile diplomacy. Officials speaking anonymously in recent weeks warned that public threats and inflammatory language could undermine negotiators attempting to preserve the ceasefire and restart formal talks.
Karoline Leavitt defended Trump's approach, arguing critics misunderstood his negotiating style. "Anyone who cannot see President Trump's tactics to play the long game are either stupid or willfully ignorant," she said previously.
Analysts monitoring the negotiations say the combination of military pressure, economic sanctions and increasingly aggressive public rhetoric has narrowed the space for compromise on both sides. Researchers at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace recently warned that Washington and Tehran appear "more inclined to retrench in their maximalist positions."
Trump's latest comments also underscored how central Iran has become to his broader foreign-policy narrative heading into the second half of his presidency. He closed his Truth Social post with a direct warning to Tehran: "For 47 years the Iranians have been 'tapping' us along, keeping us waiting... They will be laughing no longer!"
