CARLISLE, Pa. — President Donald Trump on Wednesday renewed a years-long attack on former President Barack Obama’s handling of Iran, telling a Pennsylvania defense industry summit that Obama had effectively funded the current standoff with Tehran by striking what Trump called “a horrible deal” — even as he credited his own administration’s actions against Iran with pushing oil prices lower and drawing praise from foreign leaders, including the king of Saudi Arabia.
Trump made the remarks during a keynote address at the 2026 Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, hosted by Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle. The two-day event brought together defense contractors, finance executives and Cabinet officials to announce nearly $10 billion in new investment in Pennsylvania’s defense industrial base, according to McCormick’s office.
Speaking about the recent U.S. military campaign against Iran, Trump pivoted to oil markets, then abruptly turned to blaming his predecessor for the broader standoff. “Remember what Obama said, you’ll never have another manufacturing job in the United States,” Trump told the crowd, before adding that Obama “was very bad on Iran because he basically gave them the money. What a horrible deal. It’s part of the reason we are stuck with this whole situation.”
The reference appeared aimed at the 2015 nuclear agreement Obama’s administration negotiated with Iran and five other world powers, under which the United States lifted sanctions and unfroze billions of dollars in Iranian assets in exchange for limits on Tehran’s nuclear program. Independent fact-checkers have long noted that the unfrozen funds were assets that already belonged to Iran — largely oil revenue held in foreign banks — rather than a cash payment from Washington, though Trump has for years characterized the arrangement as Obama having “given” Iran money.
Trump has criticized the 2015 deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, since his first presidential campaign, and withdrew the United States from the agreement in 2018. Wednesday’s remarks marked the latest instance of Trump invoking that history to frame the current tensions with Iran — tensions that have included a monthslong military confrontation this year, a ceasefire brokered in April, a follow-up memorandum of understanding signed in June, and renewed U.S. strikes on Iranian targets after Tehran attacked commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz in early July.
Turning to the economic picture, Trump argued that his approach — which he described loosely as “a military operation,” though he added, “call it whatever you want” — had helped stabilize energy markets after fears earlier in the conflict that oil could spike as high as $350 a barrel. “Today is at $79,” Trump said. “A couple of days ago it was at 68 and went up a little bit because I had to take tough action because they did not obey what they were supposed to obey.”
Brent crude has in fact traded in a wide band over the course of the conflict, briefly nearing $126 a barrel in April at the height of fighting before falling back into the high $60s and low $70s following the June memorandum of understanding, according to market coverage at the time. Prices climbed again in early July after Trump said he considered the ceasefire “over” and the U.S. military resumed strikes on Iranian targets following attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump told the summit crowd he expected prices to settle around $55 a barrel once the situation “settles down.”
Trump then pivoted to domestic manufacturing, pointing to what he said were more than 3,000 new manufacturing jobs created in Pennsylvania and describing the state’s economic turnaround in dramatic terms. “Including more than 3,000 new manufacturing jobs here in the Commonwealth, less than two years ago we were a dead country,” he said.
He went on to recount a conversation with Saudi Arabia’s king. “The king of Saudi Arabia told me, I was with him two years ago, he said it was amazing — just a little while ago you were a dead country and now you are the hottest country anywhere in the world,” Trump said. “I just got back from NATO, every leader said the same thing.”
Trump frequently cites praise from foreign leaders and heads of state as evidence of his administration’s economic record, a rhetorical habit that has recurred across numerous public appearances since he returned to office. He did not name which NATO leaders he was referring to, though he attended a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, in early July, where he also made his comments about the Iran ceasefire being “over,” according to contemporaneous reporting.
The Wednesday appearance was Trump’s second visit to a McCormick-organized investment summit in as many years. In July 2025, Trump headlined a similar event in Pittsburgh focused on energy and artificial intelligence, at which more than $90 billion in private investment commitments were announced, according to McCormick’s office. Wednesday’s summit shifted the focus to defense manufacturing, with McCormick’s office touting new commitments from companies including General Dynamics, Boeing and smaller Pennsylvania-based robotics and energy firms.
Trump’s broader remarks Wednesday also touched on inflation data, tax policy and his administration’s regulatory rollbacks, themes he has returned to repeatedly since taking office.