Nuking the Iran Deal

As a candidate, President Trump denounced the “catastrophic” Iran nuclear deal and vowed to tear it up. He gets his next chance in 10 days — but evidence is mounting that he won’t do so. Yet he’s not leaving it perfectly intact, either.

Multiple reports say he’s pursuing a middle strategy: Decertifying Iran’s compliance by the Oct. 15 deadline, but urging Congress not to reimpose sanctions lifted by the accord — not yet, anyway.

Then Team Trump will work with both Congress and Europe to bring new pressure on Tehran to strengthen the deal.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a longtime Iran hawk, says these measures would include:

Eliminating “sunset” provisions that phase out restrictions on Iran’s uranium enrichment.

Giving the International Atomic Energy Agency the authority — which it now lacks — to inspect Iranian military sites.

Restricting Iran’s ballistic-missile pro- gram — which itself certainly violates the spirit of the accord.

Also reportedly on the agenda: targeting Iran’s support for terrorist militias and groups like Hezbollah. As part of this, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which controls a large part of Tehran’s economy, will be designated a terrorist group.

According to Politico, it’s all designed to demonstrate Trump’s contempt for the accord and show new toughness, without triggering the international chaos that top aides reportedly have told Trump would result and consume his presidency.

We’re decidedly skeptical — after all, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster recently declared flatly that Iran “has already violated parts of the deal.” If confrontation is inevitable, better to do so with a still nonnuclear Iran.

But we’re prepared to let the president try a different tack — remembering that he’ll face another deadline in 90 days.