Michael Smerconish told CNN Friday that Donald Trump’s Iran deal is “just like” Obama’s JCPOA that took effect in 2016, and that he would have liked to have seen that agreement “play itself out” before Trump ripped it up.

Smerconish told host Pamela Brown that it was too soon for him to tell if Trump’s 14-point Memorandum of Understanding with Iran was a good deal or not.

“I think that some of the criticism of President Trump comes from the category of, if Trump’s for it, then certain people think they’ve got to be against it,” Smerconish said. “I’m not saying that I find everything acceptable in those 14 points. It’s point number eight that troubles me the most. It’s particularly vague about the enriched uranium, which is my chief concern.”

“But I guess I would ask this question of people who out of the gate are critical in saying that it’s a mistake: Maybe it’s the worst possible outcome, except for the alternatives,” he continued. “Are you prepared to put American boots on the ground for a different result? To open the strait by force, or to go get the so-called nuclear dust? It’s really complicated. I just don’t think we’re going to know until more time goes off the clock. And we see what the final agreement looks like.”

Smerconish said he’s willing to give the president credit if he obtains a successful outcome, but would have like to have seen former President Barack Obama’s JCPOA seen through.

“There was still time on the clock” for that to have happened, Smerconish said.

“I thought that the intent that president Obama had is very similar. This is the worst thing that President Trump could ever hear, but that he seems to be on the same page with President Obama, in that each sought to bring Iran into the western world and to make them part more of the global community,” Smerconish continued. “That’s where they both seem to have ended up. And maybe we should have just allowed that to play itself out instead of tearing up the JCPOA.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!