Cruz mocks Obama’s Iran deal for April Fools’ Day

Ted Cruz is using April Fools’ Day to mock President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran. 

President #Obama on #IranDeal: “This is a success of diplomacy.” pic.twitter.com/PHLLjpp2gq

— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 1, 2016

“@POTUS observing #AprilFoolsDay,” the Republican presidential candidate tweeted.

Cruz’s post then quotes Obama’s speech in Washington, D.C., that same morning addressing representatives of the P5+1 nations who helped broker the landmark deal last year.

“This is a success of diplomacy that hopefully we’ll be able to copy in the future,” he told listeners there on behalf of Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, according to the office of the White House press secretary.

The Obama administration announced its historic accord with Tehran last July after months of negotiations and several missed deadlines. It provides Iran with economic sanctions relief in exchange for greater restrictions on its nuclear energy capabilities.

Obama argued on Friday that the bargain has already significantly reduced the potential for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.

“Thanks to this deal, we have seen real progress,” he said. “Already, Iran has dismantled two-thirds of its installed [nuclear] centrifuges. Iran has shipped 98 percent of its enriched uranium stockpile out of Iran. Iran has removed the Arak [atomic] reactor and filled it with concrete.

“If Iran were to cheat, the breakout time to build a nuclear weapon has gone from two to three months to about a year.”

Cruz is a vocal critic of the Iran deal, arguing that Tehran’s past antagonism suggests it may cheat or use economic sanctions relief to fund global terrorism.

He also poked fun at Donald Trump for April Fools’ Day, pretending that the GOP presidential front-runner had accepted a one-on-one debate with him.

Cruz posted a video that morning purportedly announcing the contest, only to prank viewers by displaying a music video for singer Rick Astley’s “Never Going to Give You Up” instead. The 1987 hit is often used for lampooning unsuspecting people online in a move known as “Rickrolling.”