This will without doubt be the most important step of the
Trump presidency so far. If this goes through, he will have set the course to
correct the disastrous Iran deal, and significantly reduce the probability of Iran
initiated nuclear war.
We cannot let a murderous regime continue these
destabilizing activities while building dangerous missiles. And we cannot abide
by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear
program.
The Iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions
the United States has ever entered into. Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment
to the United States, and I don't think you've heard the last of it, believe
me.
If the president finds that he cannot certify Iranian compliance,
it would signal one or more of the following messages to Congress. Either the
administration believes Iran is in violation of the deal; or the lifting of
sanctions against Iran is not appropriate and proportional to the regime’s
behavior; or the lifting of sanctions is not in the U.S. national security
interest. Under the law, Congress then has 60 days to consider whether to
re-impose sanctions on Iran. During that time, Congress could take the
opportunity to debate Iran’s support for terrorism, its past nuclear activity,
and its massive human rights violations, all of which are called for in
Corker-Cardin.
Congress could debate whether the nuclear deal is in fact too big
to fail. We should welcome a debate over whether the JCPOA is in the U.S.
national security interest. The previous administration set up the deal in a
way that denied us that honest and serious debate.
If the president finds that he cannot in good faith certify Iranian
compliance, he would initiate a process whereby we move beyond narrow
technicalities and look at the big picture. At issue is our national security
interest. It’s past time we had an Iran nuclear policy that acknowledged that.
BY REBECCA KHEEL -
President Trump plans to “decertify” the Iran nuclear
deal next week and announce that it is not in the United States' national
interest, The
Washington Post reported Thursday.
Such an announcement would leave the next move up to Congress,
which would have 60 days to use a fast-track process to reimpose sanctions and
deliver a potentially fatal blow to the deal, which Tehran agreed to in
2015 with the U.S. and five other nations.
Trump faces an Oct. 15 deadline to tell Congress whether
Iran remains in compliance with the Obama-era nuclear accord, which gave
Tehran billions of dollars of sanctions relief in exchange for limits on its
nuclear program.
The deadline is part
of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which also says the president must
tell Congress whether suspension of sanctions remains vital to the national
security interests of the United States.
According to the Post,
which cited individuals briefed on an emerging White House strategy, Trump has
tentatively scheduled an Oct. 12 speech to lay out a larger strategy on Iran
that would open the door to modifying the agreement but hold off on
recommending Congress reimpose sanctions.
The Post’s sources
cautioned that plans are not fully set and could change.
The White House would
not confirm the speech or its contents, the newspaper reported.
Trump has repeatedly
bashed the Iran deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,
calling it “an embarrassment” and promising on the campaign trail to tear it
up.
But the
international body overseeing the deal, the International Atomic Energy
Agency, has said Iran remains in compliance, as have Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson and
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford.
Administration
officials in favor of keeping the deal in place have been looking for a way to split
the difference between saving the deal and saving face for Trump.
Mattis hinted at a
congressional hearing this week at the idea of decertifying Iran's compliance
while leaving sanctions relief in place.
“We have two different
issues,” Mattis told the House Armed Services Committee. “One is the [Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action] and one is what Congress has passed, and those
two are distinct but integral with each other. As you look at what the Congress
has laid out at a somewhat different definition of what's in our best interest,
and therein lies, I think, the need for us to look at these distinct but
integral issues the way the president has directed.”
Trump said last month he had made a decision
on the deal, but refused to say what it entailed. On Thursday, White House
press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders reiterated that Trump has made a
decision and will announce it at the “appropriate time.”
