Trump: Why no US prisoners in Iran deal?

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday blasted the White House for failing to include American prisoners in its deal on Iran’s nuclear program.

“We have four people over there, prisoners that they’re keeping — hostages, whatever you want to call them — that’s not part of the deal. Why isn’t that part of the deal?” Trump asked during an interview on Fox Business Network, questioning the terms of the agreement lifting sanctions on Tehran.

{mosads}Families of a Washington Post journalist, a former Marine, a pastor and a former FBI agent have voiced a desire for U.S. negotiators to continue pushing for their release.

“I think the deal is absolutely horrible for us, but it’s really, really bad for Israel,” Trump said.

He also alluded to the sanctions relief and international monitoring terms of the deal. Lawmakers have criticized the accord for giving Iran too much notice on nuclear site inspections.

“Why are we giving them all of their money back? Keep the money, make a deal,” Trump said. “Most importantly, we don’t have the right to … go in there and check whenever we want to, anytime, anywhere.”

“So what kind of a deal is that?” Trump asked.

Senior White House officials on Tuesday said that negotiators had discussed the fate of Americans detained and missing in Iran and insisted they are doing “whatever we can” to help bring the Americans home.

The officials said Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Tuesday about the prisoners.

“This is a moment where Iran has an important opportunity to make a humanitarian gesture to bring Americans home,” an official said.

Trump joins several other Republican presidential candidates lashing out at the deal the Obama administration secured with five other world powers and Iran.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker vowed to roll the deal back on his first day in office, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called the deal “dangerous, deeply flawed, and short sighted” and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a hawkish GOP lawmaker, said the deal “undermines our national security.”

The accord has become a major fixture of President Obama’s foreign policy agenda in his second term but faces deep reservations in Congress from members of both parties.

”I don’t understand the president. He dealt from desperation, and he shouldn’t have been desperate,” Trump said in another interview with Katy Tur on NBC News.

“You know the Iranians are going to cheat,” Trump said. “They’re great negotiators, and you know they’re going to cheat.”

— Ben Kamisar contributed. Updated at 2:09 p.m.