U.S. should pursue bigger, better Iran deal
It was my job in the Obama administration to work with Iran and our allies on implementing the nuclear agreement. Based on everything I saw, President Trump is right that now is the time to seek new concessions.
That’s why it’s confounding that Trump decided to decertify the 2015 nuclear agreement absent any evidence of Iranian violations, instead of aiming for a broader follow-up agreement. It’s especially perplexing because Trump, perhaps unintentionally, has in past remarks and tweets suggested the outlines of a bigger, better deal: Allow U.S. companies to re-enter the Iranian market in exchange for Iran curtailing its ballistic missile program.
The Obama administration argues that it got the best deal on offer. I saw firsthand why we couldn’t secure agreement around Iran’s ballistic missile program, regional provocations or human rights abuses. America had global support for pressing Iran on its nuclear capability, but not for anything else. Iran was close to getting a nuclear weapon, so time was of the essence. And Iran’s nuclear-related concessions were so comprehensive that the international community rightly decided it was a deal worth making, even if it didn’t solve every problem with Iran.
But that was then and this is now. A lot has changed. There is a broader deal to be had.
Trump has long attacked the deal for disadvantaging American companies. During the campaign he complained, “Everybody’s involved now with Iran selling them stuff. We’re probably going to be the only ones that won’t be selling them anything.” He’s right. The nuclear agreement allows foreign companies to do business in Iran, while American companies are still restricted by remaining U.S. sanctions.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei agrees with Trump and has called for access to the U.S. financial system. So has Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who campaigned successfully for re-election on a second “Barjam,” the Iranian name for the nuclear agreement, to promote economic prosperity. The Iranians were desperate for an economic boost from sanctions relief in 2015 and remain so now.
This overlap creates the possibility of a deal.
Lifting the remaining U.S. sanctions would benefit American companies and workers. It would also give us room to get concessions from Iran that we couldn’t get the first time, such as a broader agreement around ballistic missiles.
Trump put it well during the campaign when he said: “At the very least, we must hold Iran accountable by restructuring the terms of the previous deal. Iran has already — since the deal is in place — test-fired ballistic missiles three times. Those ballistic missiles, with a range of 1,250 miles, were designed to intimidate not only Israel, which is only 600 miles away, but also intended to frighten Europe and, someday, the United States.”
Trump is onto something. We shouldn’t walk away from the nuclear agreement, but we should get more for U.S. companies and regional security. Now is the time to go back to the negotiating table.