Trump Withdraws U.S. From Iran Nuclear Deal

Trump's decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Iran Nuclear Accord is a dangerous move and will have major international consequences. The U.S. is preparing to reinstate the sanctions it had waived as part of the nuclear accord and impose additional economic penalties as well.

The decision to withdraw from the treaty:

1. Makes it more likely Iran will pursue nuclear weapons.

2. Makes war between the U.S. and Iran more likely.

3. Separates the U.S. from its major allies.

4. Shows U.S. commitments are not reliable.

5. Further reinforces lack of U.S. leadership in the world.

6. Will likely have adverse effects on achieving nuclear deal with N. Korea.

Trump's decision puts America's relations with its allies into new and uncertain territory. U.S. allies are committed to staying in the deal, thus raising the prospect of diplomatic and economic disputes as the U.S. reimposes stringent sanctions on Iran. Importantly, it also raises the potential for increased tensions with Russia and China, also parties to the agreement.

The decision flies in the face of intense lobbying by European leaders who made numerous attempts to produce fixes to the deal that would satisfy Trump. Trump's prior advisers had persuaded him twice last year not to go this route. However, his newest set of considerably more hawkish advisers, Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, did not act to restrain Trump this time around.

David Krieger, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation commented, "This may be the worst foreign policy decision of our time. It vividly demonstrates the downsides to having a U.S. president who is an incompetent bully. He appears more intent on punishing Iran than on maintaining a well-worked out deal, supported by our major allies, to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. This is yet another reason that there is urgency to impeach Mr. Trump."