The Iran deal turned two today

Today, the Iran nuclear deal turns two years old. In its critics’ eyes, it has already failed. President Donald Trump and many of his supporters complain that it has not changed Iran’s regional behavior, pointing to Tehran’s continued support for regional proxies and ongoing ballistic missile tests as proof. Other critics, including Senators Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, David Perdue, and Marco Rubio, who wrote a letter to the administration denouncing the deal just this week, suggest that Iran may actually be violating it. They allege a range of technical violations, even though the International Atomic Energy Agency—and Trump’s State Department, for that matter—have confirmed Iran’s compliance.

In fact, the deal is doing exactly what is was supposed to do: prevent Iran from acquiring enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon, demonstrate to the Iranian public the benefits of cooperation with the international community, and buy time for potential changes in Iranian politics and foreign policy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration told Congress for a second time Monday that Iran is complying with the nuclear deal and can keep enjoying sanctions relief, even as it insisted Tehran would face consequences for breaching “the spirit” of the deal.

President Donald Trump, who lambasted the 2015 pact as a candidate, gave himself more time to decide whether to scuttle it or let it stand. Instead, senior Trump administration officials sought to emphasize their deep concerns about Iran’s non-nuclear behavior and vowed that those transgressions won’t go unpunished.

In a shift from Trump’s previous threat to “rip up” the deal, officials said the administration was working with U.S. allies to try to fix the deal’s flaws, including the expiration of some nuclear restrictions after a decade or more. The officials also said the U.S. would slap Tehran with new sanctions penalizing it for developing ballistic missiles and other activity.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration on Monday declared that Iran was complying with its nuclear agreement with world powers, but warned that Tehran was in default of the spirit of the accord and that Washington would look for ways to strengthen it.

It was the second time Trump certified Iranian compliance with the agreement since he took office in January, despite criticizing it during the 2016 campaign as "the worst deal ever."

Trump administration officials, briefing reporters on Monday on the decision, said new economic sanctions against Iran were being prepared over its ballistic missile program and for contributing to regional tensions.

Turtleneck wrote:From what I have read, Trump did not want to recertify but his military advisors suggested it was the best course of action.

DWags wrote:

Turtleneck wrote:From what I have read, Trump did not want to recertify but his military advisors suggested it was the best course of action.

GRR Spartan wrote:So we have a President who doesn't understand Pacific trade, doesn't understand or ignores climate change. Doesn't understand nuclear non proliferatin treaties and was suprised how complicated healthcare legislation can be.

But he's going to get Roe v Wade overturned so its all good.

On Iran, Mr. Trump said the administration had given Iran “the benefit of every doubt” about their compliance with the 2015 multinational nuclear deal. The president must certify to Congress every 90 days that Iran is in compliance with its obligations. The president made such a certification earlier this month.

But when certification comes up again, Mr. Trump said he believes Iran will be judged not compliant with the agreement. He said he would be prepared to overrule his own advisers in proclaiming that Iran hasn’t met the terms of the agreement.

“We’ve been extremely nice to them in saying they were compliant,” Mr. Trump said. “Personally, I have great respect for my people, but if it was up to me, I would have had them noncompliant 180 days ago.”

He added: “We’ll talk about the subject in 90 days but I would be surprised if they were in compliance.”

But Trump then immediately commissioned a group of White House aides to generate a rationale for declaring Iran to be in violation of the agreement. According to a report in Foreign Policy, this group includes Stephen K. Bannon, the president’s chief strategist, who has no intelligence background. The president reportedly told them “that he wants to be in a place to decertify 90 days from now and it’s their job to put him there,” according to the magazine’s source.

This is not how the intelligence process is supposed to work. Certainly, policymakers should ask the intelligence community probing questions and challenge the community’s judgments. That not only is policymakers’ prerogative, but also it is the right thing to do, and the tougher and more topical the questions, the better.

But there is a big difference between asking a pointed question and demanding a particular answer. When a president directs his staff to generate intelligence to support a preferred policy outcome, overriding the dispassionate analytic judgments of intelligence professionals, that is the very definition of the politicization of intelligence.