U.S. President Donald Trump's decision last week to decertify the Iran nuclear deal is both more and less than it seems. It does not end the agreement — which is, in fact, beyond the power of the president of the United States since it is a multilateral deal — but it makes clear his administration's contempt for such negotiations and that undercuts American power and influence in the world.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a seven-nation deal (signatories include Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, the U.S. and Iran) that caps the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions that had done great damage to the country's economy. Trump vehemently rejects the agreement, calling it "an embarrassment" and "one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into."
His primary complaint is that it is too narrow in scope, focusing only on Tehran's nuclear program and ignoring its other transgressions, such as support for terrorist groups and other destabilizing forces in the Middle East, and its ballistic missile program. Tehran is, Trump said Friday, a "dictatorship" with a "long campaign of bloodshed," adding that "the regime remains the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism." He is also troubled by the deal's sunset provision: The agreement permits Tehran to resume some nuclear activities in 10 or 15 years, which Trump argues will mean that Iran will have a breakout capacity at that point.