(JNS) Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., and candidate for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president, criticized President Donald Trump on Tuesday, June 11, for withdrawing from the 2015 Iran deal in May 2018, saying that it was “close to a true ‘art of the deal,’ ” a reference to one of the president’s books.

“Preventing the spread of nuclear weapons should remain a core tenet of our global leadership,” said Buttigieg, 37, in a speech at the University of Indiana in Bloomington. “For this reason, I will rejoin our international partners and recommit the U.S. to the Iran nuclear deal.”

“Whatever its imperfections, this was perhaps as close to a true ‘art of the deal’ as it gets,” he said. “As even this administration repeatedly certified it was preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. It has helped constrain the military threat that Iran poses to Israel and Europe without leading up down a path to another Middle Eastern war.”

Other candidates who said they would re-enter the United States into the Iran deal include Sens. Bernie Sanders; Elizabeth Warren; Kamala Harris; Amy Klobuchar; Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro; author and spiritual guru Marianne Williamson; and Wayne Messam, mayor of Miramar, Fla.

Additionally, Buttigieg warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against fulfilling his campaign promise to annex parts of Judea and Samaria.

“If Prime Minister Netanyahu makes good on his threat to annex West Bank settlements, he should know that a President Buttigieg would take steps to ensure that American taxpayers won’t help foot the bill,” he declared.