In mid-October, President Trump was due to make a certification to Congress on four conditions about its nuclear deal. He has repeatedly said this deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), gave the Iranians too much for too little. On October 13, he surprised no one by declining to certify one of the conditions set out in the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA), a bill Congress passed to oversee the 2015 deal: that continued sanctions relief to Iran under the agreement is “appropriate and proportionate” to measures taken by the regime to end its nuclear program.

The president said he is not yet quitting the deal, which he can do unilaterally, but giving his administration time to fix its flaws by working with Congress and our European allies. This “decertification” set off a 60-day period during which lawmakers could reimpose the heavy sanctions killed by the 2015 deal through a fast-track process. This would immediately take the United States out of the deal—something opposed by our closest allies and some of Trump’s chief advisers, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis.