President Donald Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth both took former President Barack Obama to task over the weekend for gifting the Iranian regime with “piles” of cash that enabled Tehran to obtain the ballistic missiles and weapons that were used to target American and allied installations throughout the Middle East.
Their remarks come as the United States and Israel enter the fourth week of Operation Epic Fury, which aims to eliminate Iran’s military capabilities following Trump’s claim that the Iranian regime is rebuilding its nuclear weapons program.
During remarks at the FII PRIORITY Summit on Friday, Trump also lashed out at Obama for his ‘nuclear deal’ with Iran that the current president ended during his first term after revealing that Tehran was cheating and continuing to develop a nuclear weapons capability in secret.
Trump mentioned the $1.7 billion payment made to Iran during the execution of the Iran nuclear deal. He described the funds as cash delivered by airplane and expressed his dissatisfaction with this action, stating that it provided Iran with the means to finance hostile activities.
“That Barack Hussein Obama, did you ever hear of him? Barack Hussein Obama, he had the Iran nuclear deal. He went to Iran, he paid them,” the POTUS said. “Remember, he sent two Boeing 757 jetliners. They took the seats out and they piled it with cash, like 1.7 billion of cash.”
“That’s when I realized the president is very powerful. The presidency is a very powerful thing when you can do that. I haven’t done that yet. I haven’t found a reason to do that yet, but that’s big,” the Republican leader expressed.
Trump: “Barack Hussein Obama. You ever hear of him? The Iran nuclear deal…he sent jetliners, took the seats out, piled it with cash. $1.7 Billion in cash”pic.twitter.com/yS53sFlDV3
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) March 27, 2026
At the time, Obama justified the massive payout by claiming Iran was owed the money over a legal claim related to a failed arms deal in 1979 after the Islamic revolution ushered in the ayatollah and deposed the Shah, taking dozens of Americans prisoner and holding them for more than 440 days.
“You know, there wasn’t a bank in DC, Virginia, or Maryland that had any money after that disaster,” Trump said.
“But they sent the cash to Iran, but more importantly, they signed an agreement, the Iran nuclear deal, which, if I didn’t terminate it in my first term, I terminated it almost immediately. If I didn’t terminate it, they would have had a nuclear weapon long ago, and they would have used it on the Middle East, Israel,” the commander-in-chief further said.
During a Cabinet meeting at the White House last week, Hegseth also ripped the Obama administration for sending the money to Iran, noting the regime used it to advance their nuclear program and buy weapons.
“You wouldn’t know it if you listened to the dishonest, anti-Trump media,” Hegseth said. “These cameras… they have a choice. You’re either informing the American people of the truth or you’re not… My message to the media is: get it right.”
Last week, Hegseth warned that Iran has the ability to hit London with missiles and highlighted the global threat from Tehran that should concern more U.S. allies.
While speaking at the Cabinet meeting alongside Trump, the War Secretary warned about two missiles that Iran fired at the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia. A week earlier, the Indian Ocean island, located approximately 4,000 kilometers from Iran, experienced an attack.
The UK government confirmed that both missiles missed their targets, but this has made people even more worried about the threat Iran could pose to Britain itself. The Israeli military has previously claimed that Iranian missiles could achieve a range of around 4,000km, placing numerous countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa at risk.
Without explicitly naming Diego Garcia, Hegseth said: “Two days ago they [Iran] shot two failed missiles on a target 4,000km away. For years, they told the world that their missiles could only range [2,000] kilometres. Surprise. Yet again, Iran lie.”
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