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Wendy Sherman, who led the negotiations for President Barack Obama on the nuclear deal with Iran, recently delivered a scathing critique of President Donald Trump’s approach to Iran.
In her tenure as undersecretary of state for political affairs under Obama and later as deputy secretary of state under President Joe Biden, Sherman has been vocal about her disapproval of Trump’s policies toward Iran, as seen in her latest interviews.
Her pointed commentary during a Bloomberg News interview has attracted significant attention, especially given the current scenario where the Trump administration is exerting heavy economic pressure on Tehran by blocking the Strait of Hormuz.
During a press briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C., on August 18, 2021, Sherman addressed questions from reporters. (Andrew Harnik/Pool via Reuters)
Sherman, instrumental in crafting the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran—an agreement Trump later exited in 2018—criticized Trump’s approach, stating in the Bloomberg interview, “He lacks a coherent strategy. His methods are too tactical and transactional, reminiscent of his business dealings. I doubt this approach will succeed.”
She added, “He has cost our alliances, American taxpayers, 13 American lives, our inventory of weapons, our ability to project power abroad.”
In response to her controversial comments, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott strongly pushed back, telling Fox News Digital, “She was literally part of the team that handed the Iranian regime billions of dollars and a roadmap to a nuclear weapon. She has no credibility. The facts: Under the previous administration, wars broke out, and our enemies grew stronger. Under President Trump, historic peace deals have been signed — including an unprecedented peace plan for Gaza — and the Iranian regime will never obtain a nuclear weapon.”
Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, who just dropped his Democratic Party membership by registering as a Republican, told Fox News Digital: “She is the primary villain of the deal that gave Iran a nuclear bomb. She has no credibility. If Iran develops a bomb, it should put her name on it.”
Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, Secretary of State John Kerry and Undersecretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, second from right, at a hotel in Vienna, Austria, on June 28, 2015. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
Adding to the growing anti-Israel sentiment among Democrats, Sherman also attacked Israel in the interview. She said, without giving any evidence, “I also believe that Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] has led us down a road — and we have been part of it — that has, in essence, created a genocide in Gaza that has destabilized the Middle East.”
When asked about Sherman’s criticism of Israel, Dershowitz said, “She is a bigot and anti-Israel. She sees everything through the lens of Barack Obama.”
Obama faced criticism during his tenure for his alleged anti-Israel policies, including allowing an anti-Israel U.N. Security Council resolution to pass in the last days of his presidency.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
In a Wall Street Journal opinion article last week, Dershowitz wrote: “The Democratic Party has become the most anti-Israel party in U.S. history. Last week, all but seven Senate Democrats voted for an arms embargo against the Jewish state… There is no denying that the hard left, anti-Israel wing of the Democratic Party has moved from the fringe to the mainstream.”
Asked to respond to the criticism of her remarks on Iran, Israel and Dershowitz’s comments, Solveig Reeker, a representative for Sherman, told Fox News Digital, “I’m sorry Ambassador Sherman is not available at this time and must decline.”