Tuesday, May 08, 2018

Stop calling it "leaving" or "pulling out"

Hey everyone, if Trump does not waive sanctions on Iran he is not "pulling out" of the Iran nuclear deal, he is violating it.

The deal, in a nutshell, is that the U.S. and other countries agreed to either repeal or waive certain sanctions that they have previously imposed on Iran in exchange for Iran giving up specific nuclear materials and opening themselves up to an intensive inspection regime. I don't think there is any provision in the deal that authorizes any side to withdraw from it.

If Trump announces that he will re-imposes the sanctions today (as everyone expects he will), the U.S. will be violating the agreement. It is a breach, not a withdrawal.