At the G7 summit in Evian, France, on June 17, President Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of bribing Iran with $1.7 billion as part of the 2015 nuclear deal, using profanity in his sharp criticism of his predecessor’s agreement.
Speaking alongside Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Trump claimed that Obama had sent cash to Iran to secure the nuclear agreement. “He gave $1.7 billion in cash, green cash from banks into a Boeing 757 and flew it to Iran,” Trump said, according to multiple news accounts of his remarks at the summit.
The $1.7 billion Trump referenced is a settlement that the Obama administration announced in January 2016. The money was tied to a decades-old dispute dating back to before the 1979 Iranian revolution, when Iran had paid $400 million into a U.S. Foreign Military Sales trust fund for military equipment that was never delivered. When the U.S. froze Iranian assets after the revolution, that $400 million remained inaccessible for decades. The $1.7 billion settlement—which included the original $400 million plus interest—was reached as part of the broader implementation of the 2015 nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Trump has repeatedly criticized the 2015 nuclear deal since his first term as president. He withdrew the United States from the agreement in 2018, calling it “the worst deal ever” made. His latest comments at the G7 summit came as he defended his own emerging agreement with Iran—a memorandum of understanding announced earlier this week aimed at ending the U.S.-Iran war. Trump has claimed his deal is far superior to Obama’s arrangement.
The timing of Trump’s criticism is notable given that he is now negotiating his own Iran agreement. At the same G7 summit, Trump said the deal with Iran is “not final” and threatened to resume military action if he does not approve of the final terms. “If I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs on their head,” Trump stated, according to news reports.
Trump’s characterization of the $1.7 billion payment as a “bribe” is disputed by policy experts and fact-checkers. The settlement was a legal obligation tied to a decades-old claim that predated the nuclear negotiations, not a payment made to secure Iran’s agreement to the deal, according to arms control analysts and the Obama administration’s public statements at the time.
Sources
- Al Jazeera — Trump’s accusation of Obama bribing Iran with $1.7 billion at G7 summit, June 17, 2026
- Middle East Eye — Trump’s claim that Obama tried to “bribe his way out” of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal
- CNN — Explanation that the $1.7 billion refers to a settlement of a dispute over $400 million in Iranian funds frozen since 1979
- Brookings Institution — Details on the $1.7 billion settlement and its origins in a decades-old financial dispute
- New York Times — Trump’s remarks at G7 summit defending his Iran deal while attacking Obama’s agreement
