Eli Lake, Bloomberg: Trump Just Came Very Close to Killing the Iran Deal
At the last minute, the president nearly told Tillerson not to certify Iranian compliance.
Under President Barack Obama this kind of thing was routine. Since the Iran nuclear deal was reached in 2015, every few months the State Department would inform Congress that the Tehran government was in compliance.
Then Donald Trump was elected president. He had campaigned against the agreement, and many of the top aides he brought into the White House believed the Obama administration had turned a blind eye to Iran's regional predations to secure a bargain that in the end was harmful to U.S. national security.
Nonetheless, Trump's State Department in the spring certified Iran was in compliance. On Monday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was supposed to certify Iranian compliance again. Talking points were sent to columnists. Senior administration officials briefed analysts on a conference call. The Treasury Department was set to announce new sanctions against a number of Iranians to soften the blow for the Republican base. Allies in Congress were given a heads-up.
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WNU editor: I call this someone giving Eli Lake a story where he can say that President Trump made the decision to kill the deal .... scared everyone .... and then showed everyone that he does listen and thereby made the decision to compromise by backtracking and saying that Iran is in compliance with the nuclear deal. What's my take .... bottom line .... he announced that Iran is in compliance .... and for those who were hoping for something else, they will have to settle for this .... U.S. Imposes New Sanctions On Iran. To say that there are a lot of people who are disappointed is an understatement.
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