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Iran Nuclear Deal

Trump's move to end Iran nuclear deal makes America less safe

The agreement provides visibility into Iran’s capabilities and actions. Backing out of it has devastating implications for U.S. and world security.

Jen Psaki and Leah Greenberg
Opinion contributors
Iranian women leaving Friday prayer ceremony, Tehran, Oct. 13, 2017.

 

After months of bombastic pandering to his base, President Trump took the first step towards dismantling the Iran nuclear deal — an agreement years in the making that prevents Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, making the region and the United States safer. A man who has built his career on his alleged ability to make the best deals wants to rip up the only deal that has ever meaningfully constrained Iran’s nuclear program, without any semblance of an alternative plan.

The deal has proven to be working, but don’t take our word for it. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the independent United Nations watchdog, just certified for the eighth time that Iran is complying. Trump’s own State Department has told Congress the same, multiple times. And his defense Secretary told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee just last week that the Iran deal “is something that the president should consider staying in.”

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And some of our closest allies, like the United Kingdom, France and Germany, are counting on us to keep our end of the bargain. Despite all this, Trump wants to tear up the deal merely because he made a reckless campaign promise.

As frustrating as this move is, it’s not just another chance for hand-wringing. It’s a call to action, an opportunity for ordinary constituents to once again deal a blow to Trump’s dangerous agenda.

Make no mistake, Trump’s move to end the Iran deal has devastating implications not just for the security of every American, but for the world. Before the deal, a nuclear-armed Iran was one of the most serious and immediate threats to global security. Under this deal, Iran gives up the capacity to make a nuclear weapon in exchange for sanctions relief. In order to make sure Iran is obeying, the deal also sets up what the IAEA has called the most rigorous inspections in history.

This was a landmark foreign policy achievement not just for the Obama administration, but for our global partners who stood with us to block Iran from building a nuclear weapon without sending American troops to fight another war. The United States should stay in the deal not because it gives Iran a clean bill of health on its behavior in Syria and Yemen, its ballistic missile program, or its support of terrorism. There are still strong sanctions in place for those reasons. But the agreement provides visibility into Iran’s capabilities and actions that makes the world safer.

Look no further than North Korea to understand the consequences of withdrawing from the deal. While there is little evidence that the Trump administration is pursuing a diplomatic path with North Korea, destroying the Iran deal will remove any chance that Pyongyang would ever negotiate with Washington. How can any foreign leaders trust our commitment if the president of the United States would backtrack on an international deal without a viable path forward?

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The good news is that Trump seems unwilling to make this decision himself — he would rather simply declare that Iran has violated the deal and have Congress do his work for him. With his decertification of the deal, both parties in Congress now have the power to stop Trump, again. His bluster doesn’t mean much unless Congress takes the bait by voting to re-impose sanctions and effectively kill the deal. Whether they originally voted for the deal or not, many lawmakers have now admitted it’s working, and expressed hesitation to pull out.

More and more congressional Republicans have been publicly challenging Trump’s reckless rhetoric, but that’s not enough. They must now back up their words with actions, and deny Trump the ability to further jeopardize our security.

That’s why organized constituent power will be the key to keeping us out of war with Iran. In the same way that Trump’s latest legislative efforts to destroy the Affordable Care Act were blocked after overwhelming public opposition, his fact-free vendetta against the Iran deal can, and should, meet the same fate.

Let’s be clear: A vote to kill the deal opens the door for war with Iran — and each member of Congress should be hearing loudly and persistently from their constituents that this is unacceptable. The American people must resist Trump’s baseless warmongering like they successfully resisted his attempts to take away our health care. Every member of Congress who chooses to vote to renege on the deal must know that they are voting to make every man, woman and child in this country less safe. That’s a bad deal for every American.

Jen Psaki, White House communications director under President Obama, is vice president for communications and strategy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a member of the Diplomacy Works advisory council. Leah Greenberg is a co-founder and co-executive director of the Indivisible Project. Follow them on Twitter: @jrpsaki and @leahgreenb

 

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