Whether it's pulling out of the Paris climate accord or rejecting the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, President Trump has made his share of foreign policy mistakes.
But nothing, so far, would match the blunder of a decision to jettison the agreement that prevents Iran, one of the world's most threatening regimes, from developing the world's most terrifying weapons.
French President Emmanuel Macron plans to use his three-day state visit to Washington this week to try to salvage the deal, signed in 2015 by China, the European Union, France, Germany, Iran, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Among the reasons it would be wrong to abandon the agreement:
- Iran is complying, according to 11 consecutive inspection findings. A Trump decision to decertify, expected on or before May 12, would clear a path for Iranian hard-liners to revive the shelved nuclear program. A Middle East nuclear arms race could ensue, along with the threat of military conflict.
- Renewed economic sanctions would let Iranian leaders who've mismanaged their economy, triggering street demonstrations and plunging the currency, to again shift blame to a newly demonized America.
- The Iran agreement is based on a simple trade-off — the lifting of harsh economic sanctions in return for denuclearization. Trump and Kim Jong Un are expected to meet soon to discuss a similar deal involving North Korea's nuclear weapons program. But why would Kim strike an agreement with someone who so cavalierly breaks America's word?
Until now, Trump's aides have managed to restrain his desire to upend the Iran agreement negotiated by his predecessor. But the moderating voices of former national security adviser H.R. McMaster and former secretary of State Rex Tillerson are gone, replaced by the more hawkish John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, the CIA director nominated to replace Tillerson.
There's certainly plenty to criticize about the Iran deal. It freed up billions of dollars for Tehran to invest in regional trouble-making: interfering in Iraq, fomenting extremism in Yemen, sending troops and materiel to bolster a Syrian dictator, menacing Israel, and expanding a long-range missile program. And many, though not all, of the Iran deal's prohibitions expire in dates stretching from 2025 to 2030.
But there's years to renegotiate those sunsets. In the meantime, the Iran deal provides the most intrusive inspections employed against a country that wasn't defeated by war. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors go anywhere they need.
As long as they do, the world is a safer place.