President Trump's Lonely Position on Iranian Deal

Trump's Lonely Position on Iranian Nuclear Deal
President Trump's decision to decertify the Iranian nuclear deal after certifying it twice before makes no sense, since nothing material has changed since he last certified it. He has provided no evidence as to why Iranian compliance has suddenly ended. Internationally, China, France, Russia, Germany, and the United Kingdom -- the countries that signed the deal, along with the United States -- have not found Iranian noncompliance. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which monitors the deal, over 80 nuclear policy experts, and the European Union, which had a representative  in the negotiations to achieve the deal, are all agreed that Iran is in compliance. Even in the United States, opponents of decertification include Secretary of Defense James Mattis, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the head of the U.S. Strategic Command, and Rep. Ed Royce, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.  Daniel Coats, Director of National Intelligence, stated in the May 2017 Worldwide Threat Assessment, that the JCPOA has "enhanced the transparency of Iran's nuclear activities" and "extended the amount of time Iran would need to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon from a few months to about a year." 

The IAEA has certified that Iran has eliminated 98 percent of its enriched uranium, 2/3s of its centrifuges -- 13,000 dismantled -- and poured concrete into the core of its Arak reactor. Iran has also shipped out more than 11 tons of low-enriched uranium. Moreover, it has kept its commitment to enrich uranium up to only 3.67 percent.

If the United States were to completely withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal, it would not only encourage the worst elements in Iranian politics; it would also undermine U.S. relations with Russia, China, and European countries just when their cooperation is needed to pressure North Korea. As for Kim Jong-un, if he believes that the U.S. is rash enough to initiate a first strike, he may accelerate his missile and nuclear-bomb tests and deployments.

We should not give up on the possibility that nuclear weapons can be eliminated from the face of the earth, as not only have 122 nations signed a resolution to eliminate all nukes, but since the fall of the Berlin wall, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Ukraine, Kazakistan and Belarus have voluntarily given up their nuclear weapons or abandoned advanced programs.

GOP Wants Hillary Clinton's Scalp on Uranium Sale
As is almost certainly a ploy to shift attention away from the investigation of the Trump presidential campaign's collusion or conspiracy with Russia to torpedo Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, the GOP has belatedly launched a campaign to criminally implicate her in the sale by Uranium One of uranium to Rosaton, Russia's nuclear energy agency. The sale was approved by nine government agencies and signed by President Obama. Hillary had no direct role in approving the sale.

The sale is, of course, meant to convey an impression that the U.S. made a major contribution to Russia's nuclear weapons program. The uranium mine owned by Uranium One represents only 2.3 percent of all U.S. production; also, the 1,126 tons produced by the United States represents a small part of the world's 62,266 tons of uranium.