Whether through arrogance or ignorance, the Obama administration falsely assessed the ability of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to curtail Iran’s illicit nuclear activities. Even from day one, the deal they presented fell far short of the red lines to which President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry swore they would uphold. Far from creating the most robust inspections and monitoring regime, Obama and Kerry watered down on precedent to create a far weaker standard for all future non-proliferation deals, notwithstanding the politicized and corrupt analysis from groups such as the Arms Control Association. Kerry also caved to Iran on its ballistic missile work, reversing language that had unequivocally banned Iran’s work on potential delivery systems and instead giving Iran wiggle room to pursue multi-stage rockets capable of delivering a nuclear warhead anywhere in the Middle East and, with time, even into Europe or North America.

Senator Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has put together a fact sheet highlighting some of the problems the JCPOA did not address and identified three major flaws: