While on the campaign trail, then-candidate Donald Trump made it a point of his campaign, much like some of his fiercest competitors in the Republican primary, to completely dismantle the Iran nuclear deal that was the hallmark accomplishment of the Obama administration.
Almost two years after the deal was reached, President Trump is faced with the decision to let the deal completely fall apart, and members of his own administration, as well as Congress, are doing everything in their power to ensure that doesn’t happen.
According to multiple reports, Trump’s national security adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster is scrambling to push his boss to waive sanctions on the Iranian government before a weekend deadline to keep the deal in place. McMaster is said to be working with both Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Ben Cardin, D-Md. Sources told the Washington Free Beacon that White House officials are trying to sell the president on it, despite opposition from many in the Republican party.
“It’s pretty clear the people around the president are trying to sell him an Iranian Potemkin village of sorts,” said the source to the Beacon. “There is no legislation that would fix the deal on the table, only legislation that would lock in the deal and even make it worse on issues like missiles.”
Another source familiar with the talks told the Daily Beast, “This would be a coup for McMaster and a bailout for Trump.”
The nuclear deal has been criticized by many on the right for simply delaying the inevitable of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. However, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has been in compliance with the deal and has not pursued the development of nuclear weapons.
But if this piece of legislation from Corker, Cardin, and McMaster moves forward, it will make it easier for the White House to block sanctions both now and in the future. If Iran’s economy sees a bump in the next six years, all leverage will be lost in imposing economic sanctions. Luckily, for the Trump administration, the protests in Iran that have been occurring for the past few weeks signal a shift that puts more pressure on the Iranian regime, all because their economy is performing underwhelmingly. They don’t have much wiggle room to negotiate any leniency when it comes to sanctions.
In light of all this, why is McMaster trying to get President Trump to go back on a campaign promise? Maybe McMaster, as well as Corker and Cardin, see value in the deal and are trying to prevent another foreign debacle in the Middle East by a president as his mental status is being questioned. With reports saying that McMaster is on his way out of the White House at the end of January, it’s possible that McMaster simply wants to maintain the status quo and leave his post less chaotic than when he came in succeeding Michael Flynn. It’s difficult to say definitively other than he believes that keeping the deal in place, in his mind, is better for our national security.
Whether he’s successful in convincing his boss who, for the most part, already has his mind made up, that’s still anybody’s guess.
Siraj Hashmi is a commentary video editor and writer for the Washington Examiner.
