The Jewish Policy Center applauds President Trump for withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the Iran deal. Iran entered the agreement hiding its prior nuclear weapons program and unwilling to allow inspections of its military facilities, and has since possessed too many centrifuges and too much heavy water. Furthermore, Iranian cooperation in military facilities with North Korea made it impossible for the United States to certify, as the JCPOA requires, that a) Iran is “transparently, verifiably, and fully implementing” the agreement; and b) “has not taken any action, including covert activities, that could significantly advance its nuclear weapons program.”
With his decision not to certify Iran in compliance with the JCPOA last October, President Trump said, “We will not continue down a path whose predictable conclusion is more violence, more terror, and the very real threat of Iran’s nuclear breakout. In the event we are not able to reach a solution working with Congress and our allies, then the agreement will be terminated.”
France, Germany and the United Kingdom have made intensive efforts to bring Iran closer to compliance, but they failed.
Withdrawal from the JCPOA is not the end of the process. The President and America’s allies must find ways to protect the United States, Europe, and the Middle East from Iranian aggression – both nuclear and non-nuclear. But we believe President Trump has taken a decision that is responsive to the situation and vital to the national security interests of the United States
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For additional background to the JCPOA and Iranian violations, we recommend the following:
- Bret Stephens: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/opinion/tehran-nuclear-sanctions.html
- Reuel Gerecht & Ray Takeyh: https://www.cfr.org/article/why-iran-wont-rush-bomb-if-trump-pulls-out-nuclear-deal
- Reuel Gerecht: http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/times-up-for-iran-deal/
