I've been willing to give the Trump administration the benefit of the doubt on whether it can enforce the Iran nuclear deal so strictly that the Iranians howl. So far I see no indication that we can do that.
And given that the up-front benefits to Iran have been squandered by Iran and their economy is still in rough shape even as Iran continues their reign of terror in the Middle East, I'd count those pallets of cash as an expensive lesson to America and start squeezing Iran again.
I'd rather junk the bad deal and start over working the problem without the delusion that we have s solution already.
Of all the reasons to keep the deal (from the American perspective), this is 100% non-persuasive:
Within the Trump administration, JCPOA supporters contend that rejecting the deal would harm the United States by calling into question our commitment to international agreements generally. There is ominous talk of America “not living up to its word.”
"America" did not give its word on this deal. Indeed, nobody did as the Obama administration admits!
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is not a treaty or an executive agreement, and is not a signed document.
President Obama gave his word. Or maybe not, really. The JCPOA is just a document that a bunch of people in the same room took home and filed away.
If America had given its word, the Senate would have ratified it as the Constitution provides for committing America to a deal with a foreign state.
We can break a wink and a nod with a rogue state with limitless zeal to harm our interests in the Middle East.
UPDATE: I'm sure deal defenders think this advance is no big deal:
Iran launched a rocket carrying a satellite on Thursday, a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News -- but it's unclear if the Islamic Republic achieved its ultimate objective of putting the satellite into orbit.
If this didn't work, perhaps the next one will work.
A rocket that can put a satellite into orbit could be used for long-range ballistic missiles. I'm sure Iran would never dream of putting nukes on it.
Have a super sparkly day.
