TRUMP'S IRAN SHAMBLES

The questions remaining over the damage to Iran's nuclear program include the fate of almost 900 lb. of highly enriched uranium, enough to make nine bombs. But we know that stockpile was accumulated after Donald Trump scrapped an agreement that had sidelined Iran's program, a pact that Tehran had been honoring. Trump's failed diplomacy got us into this mess.

- BY JOSH BLACK

Ten years ago, I was part of the U.S. team negotiating a deal to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Those negotiations culminated in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It was Trump’s decision in 2018 to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal that ultimately led to the perilous new situation in the Middle East.

The JCPOA was the result of a sustained campaign of principled, effective U.S. diplomacy. President Obama began laying groundwork for this nuclear deal as soon as he came to office in 2009. His view—shared then and now across the U.S. political spectrum—was that the U.S. cannot accept a nuclear-armed Iran. At the time, Iran claimed that its nuclear program was for exclusively peaceful uses. Yet given evidence of Iran’s past interest in possessing a nuclear bomb before 2003, the U.S. could not take this claim at face value.

To get the nuclear deal, Obama and his national-security team rallied the world to increase pressure on Tehran. The U.S., E.U., and other allies put in place punishing sanctions. The U.N. Security Council followed suit with a fresh round of sanctions in June 2010 that were wide-ranging and targeted the nuclear program.