Heidi M. Przybyla

USA TODAY

President Obama has set a bad precedent by negotiating a prisoner swap to secure the freedom of U.S. journalists held in Iran, says Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, citing Ronald Reagan's approach to freeing U.S. prisoners as a better model.

"He's put a price on the head of every American abroad," Rubio said of Obama. "Our enemies now know that if you can capture an American, you can get something meaningful in exchange for it," he said on NBC's Meet the Press.

"When I become president of the United States, our adversaries around the world will know that America is no longer under the command of someone weak like Barack Obama," said Rubio, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. "And it will be like Ronald Reagan where as soon as he took office, the hostages were released from Iran."

Yet under the Reagan administration, White House officials later tried to arrange the sale of arms to Iran in the hope of winning the release of U.S. hostages in Lebanon. The profits from the sales were then illegally diverted to the Contra rebels fighting to overthrow the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. Discovery of the arms-for-hostages deal led to several congressional investigations. Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was convicted, but his sentence was overturned on appeal. Reagan publicly denied knowing about the operation by his staff.

Iran freed imprisoned Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian as the U.S. lifted some of its harshest sanctions against the country. The U.S. approach to Iran has been a focal point of Republican criticism of Obama's policies, including the administration's recent nuclear deal. Obama has said it demonstrates the value of engaging U.S. enemies while Republicans say it puts the nation in a weaker negotiating position and that they would immediately revoke it.

"I'm glad they're coming home," Rubio said. "Under President Rubio, you would not have negotiated any sort of prisoner exchange."

The Americans were freed in exchange for clemency to seven Iranians charged or imprisoned over sanctions violations. The U.S. also dropped charges against 14 Iranians outside the U.S.