A dangerous game of brinkmanship

This appeared in The Washington Post: Thanks to the unanimous counsel of his national security team, President Donald Trump appears to be edging away from his long-standing threat to junk the international accord that limits Iran’s nuclear program. But it seems likely that he will embark on a dangerous and pointless game of brinkmanship with Tehran by refusing to recertify the deal to Congress. Such a declaration would be manifestly dishonest, and it could trigger a process that could cause the agreement to unravel.

The accord the Obama administration fashioned in 2015 is flawed. But there isn’t much question that Iran is abiding by terms that drastically limit its stockpile of nuclear materials and make it virtually impossible to produce an atomic weapon in the next decade.

If the Islamic regime continues to comply with the existing deal, the implicit U.S. threat — that it will follow decertification with withdrawal — will look hollow; in the absence of proven Iranian violations, Washington will have no European support. In any case, nothing prevents the Trump administration from enlisting U.S. allies in a new negotiating effort without the show of decertification.

The show, however, may be the point for Trump. Congress could spare him the pain of appearing to validate Obama’s legacy by removing the certification requirement. Failing that, it should, at least, not compound his folly: It should not rupture a status quo that is preventing the eruption of another nuclear crisis.