In a speech Friday, President Donald Trump announced that he will decertify the Iran Nuclear Deal without any semblance of an alternative plan, while also issuing new sanctions against the government of Iran.
After months of bombastic pandering to his base, Trump took the first step towards dismantling the Iran nuclear deal — an agreement years in the making that prevents Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
The president announced the steps that his administration will take with the aim of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons: new sanctions.
“The execution of our strategy begins with the long overdue step of imposing tough sanctions on Iran’s Islamic revolutionary guard corps,” the president declared while urging America’s allies to follow suit.
You read that right. A man who has built his career on his alleged ability to make the best deals wants to undo the only deal that has ever meaningfully constrained Iran’s nuclear program and all he has to offer is new sanctions.
The deal has proven to be working, but don’t take our word for it. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the independent United Nations watchdog, just certified for the eighth time that Iran is complying with the agreement.
Trump’s own State Department has told Congress the same, multiple times. And his defense Secretary told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee just last week that the Iran deal “is something that the United States should stay in.”
And some of our closest allies, like the United Kingdom, France and Germany, are counting on us to keep our end of the bargain.
Despite all this, Trump wants to tear up the deal merely because he made a reckless campaign promise.
Make no mistake, Trump’s move to end the Iran deal has devastating implications not just for the security of every American, but for the world. Before the deal, a nuclear-armed Iran was one of the most serious and immediate threats to global security. Under this deal, Iran gives up the capacity to make a nuclear weapon in exchange for sanctions relief. In order to make sure Iran is obeying, the deal also sets up what the IAEA has called the most robust inspection program in history.
Now we’re back to square one.
