MS NOW Analyst Breaks Out Striking Graphic to Show Why Trump’s Iran Deal ‘Clearly Worse’ Than Obama’s

Morning Joe economic analyst Steve Rattner broke down how President Donald Trump’s proposed Iran deal was “clearly worse for Americans” compared to former President Barack Obama’s deal with a striking side-by-side view of Tehran’s cash windfall under each framework.

Trump formally signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran last week under which Tehran would agree not to “procure or develop nuclear weapons.”

The agreement also calls for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a ceasefire. Critics across the political spectrum, however, have raised concerns over several provisions, including sanctions relief for Iran and a proposed $300 billion reconstruction investment fund for the country.

On Thursday’s Morning Joe, Rattner attempted to show why the deal, pushed by a president who repeatedly trashed his Obama’s Iran deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was “no better.”

Showing several screens of charts the analyst began: “So [the Trump administration have] already taken sanctions off of Iranian oil during this negotiating period, not something Obama did. That is estimated to bring them $6 billion of extra oil revenue. In addition we’ve committed during this period before there’s anything signed to unfreeze $12 billion of Iranian assets – something that Obama never did.”

“So $18 billion they get just for signing the MOU, so to speak. And then if you get a final deal, they have another $66 billion of frozen assets, and that’s more than Obama,” he explained.

He continued: “And over the 2.3 years, which is equivalent to how long the JCPOA was in effect, they get another $66 billion of extra oil revenue. And then lastly there’s this $300 billion fund that Trump has been talking about. Nobody knows who’s going to pay for it, whether the U.S. will be part of it, but it’s potentially another big thing.”

He added: “So you can see here in terms of the oil revenue, this is simply a breakdown of that, and it shows you the difference between, over the next couple of years, what they would have gotten for their oil and what they will now get for their oil. Again a total of another $78 billion, or there about.”

Rattner went on to explain that in terms of Iran’s frozen assets, Obama “freed up no money up front” – only releasing assets after a deal was signed – in contrast with Trump who he said “already is in the process right now of giving them $12 billion.”

“Ultimately, Obama unsanctioned $50 billion of assets,” the analyst added. “Trump, we’re talking about $78 billion of assets.”

Co-host Jonathan Lemire then rolled back a clip of Trump blasting Obama’s deal and claiming that his predecessor flew $1.7 billion in cash to Iran, then asked Rattner to “fact-check” the claim.

“This $1.7 billion that Trump loves to talk about, what that is is money that Iran put on deposit before the 1979 revolution for some purchases that were never made. And it’s been frozen since then. And that’s all that is, is essentially giving them back money they gave us 47 years ago.”

Continuing he presented a striking graphic that showed the value to Iran of both deals in terms of revenue, with the president’s figure higher than Obama’s and colossally higher when Trump’s proposed $300 billion reconstruction fund was folded in.

“So when you add it all up, you can see that Obama provided $117 billion in total relief once they signed the final JCPOA. And Trump is actually giving them a little bit more than that in both crude oil sales and in unfrozen assets, not to mention the $300 billion that’s floating around out there,” he concluded.

Watch above via MS NOW.

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