AP FACT CHECK: Trump on Iran

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump offered a questionable reading of Iran's past economic condition Friday when he blamed the Obama administration for lifting sanctions just as Iran's government was facing "total collapse."

The sanctions were eased as part of the deal Iran struck with the U.S. and other countries in 2015 to freeze its nuclear program. In Trump's telling, this happened just before what would have been "the total collapse of the Iranian regime."

What would have happened absent the deal is impossible to say. But an imminent collapse of Iran's economy was highly improbable, according to international economists and U.S. officials.

International penalties on Iran in response to its nuclear program did drive its economy into crisis earlier this decade. But even before the nuclear deal, Iran had cut budget expenditures and fixed its balance of payments. It was still exporting oil and importing products from countries such as Japan and China.

The multinational deal froze Iran's nuclear program in return for an end to a variety of oil, trade and financial sanctions on Tehran. Iran also regained access to frozen assets held abroad.

The deal was conceivably an economic lifeline for the state, but Iran is not wealthy as a result. Ordinary Iranians have seen limited benefits so far.