Trump’s JCPOA Narrative Questioned

A senior advisor to former US president, Barack Obama, has questioned the narrative used by the administration of President Donald Trump that Iran is “violating the spirit” of the 2015 nuclear deal even as it is in technical compliance with it. “This notion that somehow Iran is in violation of the spirit of the deal [is wrong] ... There’s no spirit of the deal. There’s the deal and Iran is in compliance with the agreement,” Tony Blinken told NPR in a talk on Thursday. “The IAEA [the UN nuclear agency], which monitors the agreement, has said that repeatedly. Ironically, so has the Trump administration,” Blinken stressed. Despite all the rhetoric, the Trump administration has twice certified Iran’s compliance with the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but there are indications that the White House wants to avoid a third certification, which is due in mid-October. Blinken referred to those two certifications and suggested that an abrupt decertification on a third deadline would be “absurd”.

“President Trump has twice certified that Iran is complying. If he turns around in a month’s time, in a few weeks’ time and says they’re not [compliant], what changed?” he asked.