President Donald Trump is set to announce Friday afternoon that he will not certify the controversial Iran nuclear deal. However, he also won’t unravel or rewrite it. Instead, Trump reportedly wants Congress to establish “trigger points” that could prompt the U.S. to reimpose sanctions on Iran.
Some of those trigger points could include “continued ballistic missile launches by Iran, a refusal to extend the duration of constraints on its nuclear fuel production, or a conclusion by the United States’ intelligence agencies that Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in less than a year.”
However, Congress is deeply divided on the Iran deal, and it’s entirely possible that they won’t be able to come to an agreement. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) plan to introduce a proposal that will address flaws in the deal, but it’s unlikely to gain the support of Democrats, who largely want to keep the Iran nuclear deal as-is.
Trump’s announced intention to decertify the Iran nuclear agreement would achieve nothing other than isolating the US.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 11, 2017
Experts agree: the #IranDeal remains the best way to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. https://t.co/XxEwcN6L10
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) October 11, 2017
And getting Congress to agree on a renegotiation isn’t even the hardest challenge facing Trump. He’ll also have to convince Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany to agree to renegotiation, too.
As for Iran, it has completely rejected the notion of changing the current deal or renegotiating a new one. In response to questions of extending the restrictions on producing nuclear fuel beyond 15 years, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, said last month, “Are you prepared to return to us 10 tons of enriched uranium?”
This is a tricky situation, to be sure. However, it’s important that Trump doesn’t back down. Contrary to liberal rhetoric, the Iran nuclear deal does nothing to effectively prevent Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.
BREAKING: Congress Warned-Iran on Pathway to Fully Restart Nuclear Weapons Program https://t.co/loYicdb94n pic.twitter.com/JC8jR2SsWB
— Adam Kredo (@Kredo0) October 11, 2017
Trump’s right: the Iran nuclear deal is an embarrassment and a disaster, and the sooner Congress can fix it, the better.
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