Monday's CNN This Morning seized on Lindsey Graham's description of JD Vance as the "architect" of the Iran deal — framing it as a potential political risk for the VP if the deal falters. A poisoned chalice? Graham, a close Trump ally and longtime Iran hawk, posted on X Sunday following President Trump's announcement of a memorandum of understanding to reopen the Strait of Hormuz: "I look forward to reviewing the final product and I believe it is imperative that the architect of the deal, Vice President Vance and his negotiating partners, be part of the process in presenting the final deal to Congress." USA Today White House reporter and CNN commentator Francesca Chambers said that Graham's comment put the deal "at the vice president's feet" and is "putting the onus on him if this doesn't work out." Host Audie Cornish hammered home Chambers' point: "Lindsey Graham, the hawk, who's been cheering this on the whole time, is trying to put the actual deal at the feet of JD Vance, who's not been cheering this on the whole time. So that if it goes sideways, everyone can say somehow Vance was behind a bad deal." Classic CNN: Suggest division and downside risk within the Trump orbit. CNN Sees Poisoned Chalice for JD in Iran Deal —- Gives Obama Pass for Undermining Trump Negotiations pic.twitter.com/tN0smzuoXb — Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) June 15, 2026 Later, Cornish aired a clip of Barack Obama casting doubt on the Trump administration's efforts. Obama, in that pompous cadence that makes Scott Pelley sound positively self-deprecating, suggested any new agreement would likely be no better than his 2015 JCPOA, which he "had worked for a long stretch of time" before Trump withdrew it in 2018. "It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place," boasted Obama. So Obama decided to trumpet his own supposed success while publicly undermining President Trump during sensitive ongoing talks. The mullahs are surely digging Barack's rap. CNN media analyst Sara Fischer, instead of calling Obama out for his vainglorious, ill-timed intervention, offered a sympathetic gloss: Obama was on a "media tour" for his foundation and library: "I think he wants to remind the American people that what they did in 2015 was, in some ways, a more permanent solution than to what we have now." No mention of the JCPOA's documented flaws — sunset clauses, inadequate verification, billions in sanctions relief that flowed to Iranian proxies, or the regime's continued march toward nuclear breakout. No pushback on the unusual step of a former president publicly second-guessing a successor's diplomacy in real time. Just a friendly reminder of Obama's superior wisdom. Perhaps Barack should lay off the attacks on Trump and focus on ways to make the Obamalisk look less like a Klingon prison. Grow ivy on the walls, maybe? Par for the course at CNN. Highlight potential traps for Vance and the Trump administration. Treat Obama's snide self-indulgence with kid gloves.  Here's the transcript. CNN This Morning 6/15/26 6:17 am EDT FRANCESCA CHAMBERS: But I did want to just touch on one other thing that you were saying about the vice president for a minute, because he was called by Lindsey Graham the architect of this agreement, and that was really —- AUDIE CORNISH: That must have been surprising. CHAMBERS: Well, that was—but it was a very interesting comment, because it really put, Lindsey Graham, close ally of the administration, really putting this at the vice president's feet at this point. And so it's not just the comments that he's making publicly, the vice president, it's these other comments for coming from allies of the Trump administration, putting this, if it doesn't work out, at the vice president's feet. Last week I actually talked to the vice president about the Iran war, and he told me that he doesn't think it's gonna become a quagmire, that we're not even gonna be talking about this a year from now. So the one, the, the statement that you laid out isn't the only mile marker that he's putting forward here. CORNISH: But can I translate your statement? Lindsey Graham, the hawk, who's been cheering this on the whole time, is trying to put the actual deal at the feet of JD Vance, who's not been cheering this on the whole time, so that if it goes sideways, everyone can say somehow Vance was behind a bad deal. CHAMBERS: Well, I'm saying that, that Lindsey Graham is, in calling him the architect of this negotiation, this deal that's coming forward, and the vice president was very, very involved, is putting the onus on him if this doesn't work out. I'm not -—  CORNISH: So yes. So if it goes bad, everyone could be like, "It was him."  CHAMBERS: And he's saying that, and that time will tell. I'm saying that politically, it becomes a risk for the vice president at that point, when you have allies of the administration saying he was the architect. . . .  CORNISH: Former President Barack Obama says that when he negotiated a deal with Iran more than a decade ago, he did it without military intervention. Now we know that Trump withdrew the US from that agreement in his first term, this was in 2018.  But now Obama is saying that he's skeptical that a better deal has been produced under the current administration. BARACK OBAMA: It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different. Or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place, and had worked for, for a long stretch of time, before we, the United States, pulled out of it. CORNISH: Group chat is back. There's a lot of differences. We can go down the rabbit hole on that deal and how it dealt with inspections and verification. Why do you think Obama is speaking up now? We don't usually see him comment on policy in real time. SARA FISCHER: Well, one, I think he, he has broader communication goals around things that he's doing with his foundation and his library, so it's part of the media tour.  But then two, I think he wants to remind the American people that what they did in 2015 was, in some ways, a, a more permanent solution than to what we have now.