President Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of the international nuclear agreement with Iran, the Hill reports.

President Trump has long been critical of the deal, which he has claimed is the “worst deal ever negotiated.” 

Today the president called the deal “defective at its core,” and promised to punish Iran with “the highest level of economic sanctions.”

The deal was crafted under the Obama administration, and saw Iran giving up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for the easing of economic sanctions against it.

Prior to the deal, Iran had a long nuclear history, beginning its work in the nuclear arena with the help of the United States’ Atoms for Peace program in the 1950s. 

Recent developments and power struggles in the region led the United States, and other nations in the global north, to decide that they did not want Iran to have advanced nuclear capabilities at all.

Following the signing of the Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), international monitors were established to make sure that Iran didn’t secretly continue its work.

These monitors have found that Iran has stayed true to its promise to denuclearize; because of this, most of the United States’ allies put heavy public pressure on President Trump to stay in the deal.

The leaders of France and Germany recently visited Washington in effort to convince Trump of the wisdom of remaining in the agreement; both left feeling that they had likely failed.

Trump’s decision drew quick criticism from his critics. Even former president Barack Obama, normally silent about the policy decisions of the current White House, spoke out. 

On Facebook, Obama called Trump’s decision “so misguided.” The former POTUS argued that “walking away from JCPOA turns our back on America’s closest allies, and an agreement that our country’s leading diplomats, scientists and intelligence professionals negotiated.”

Worse, Obama cautioned, “the consistent flouting of agreements that our country is a party to risks eroding America’s credibility, and puts us at odds with the world’s major powers.”

In announcing his decision, President Trump begged to differ, arguing that leaving the deal gives the U.S. even more credibility than it had before, and that leaving will help in the negotiations with newly nuclear state North Korea.

“Today’s action sends a critical message,” the president said, according to New York Magazine. “The United States no longer makes empty threats. When I make promises, I keep them. In fact, at this very moment, Secretary Pompeo is on his way to North Korea in preparation for my upcoming meeting with Kim Jong-Un. Plans are being made, relationships are building.” 

The president did not give details as to exactly how leaving the Iran deal will make Kim trust the U.S. more.

Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, responded to the news on Twitter, explaining that Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, has asked him to confer with the other signatories in the deal. Should they confirm that they plan to honor the deal, Iran may remain in the deal as well.

 

 

However, as New York Magazine pointed out, that would bring those nations into conflict with the United States, and could put European allies trading with Iran in violation of the U.S.’ new sanctions. 

President Trump said during his announcement that the U.S. would sanction any country that “helps Iran on its quest for nuclear weapons.” Should the president want to show that this is not an “empty threat,” the U.S. could be forced to sanction allies like France and the U.K. 

Too, Iran could decide to leave the deal completely, and restart its nuclear weapons program.

Zarif told Face the Nation recently that the nuclear option remains on the table, and that Iran’s nuclear program could resume “at a much greater speed” should the country decide to go that route.

According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this isn’t empty rhetoric. The Atlantic reports Netanyahu said recently that Israeli spies found Iran has carefully saved all of the data from its nuclear research, and archived it in such a way that the country could restart its nuclear work any time it wanted.

President Trump worked to tamp down any fears that Iran will renuclearize, however. He said he believes Iran will come to the U.S. seeking a new deal “that benefits all of Iran and the Iranian people. When they do, I am ready, willing and able.”

Obama, however, was not so sure. In fact, he believes President Trump may have created a scenario in which the U.S. is forced into “a losing choice between a nuclear armed Iran or another war in the Middle East.” Worse, the former POTUS said he fears a nuclear Iran could “trigger an arms race in the world’s most dangerous region.”

Amid all that doom and gloom, Obama had a little hope, however. And a little shade.

He concluded his statement by saying, “Going forward, I hope that all Americans continue to speak out in support of the kind of strong, principles, fact-based and unifying leadership that can best secure our country and uphold our responsibilities around the globe.” 

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