As deadlines loom for the renewal of key US sanctions waivers,
what might the consequences be of President Trump's threat to
"nix" the Iran deal?
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the clunkily
named nuclear deal reached between the P5+1 (the permanent 5 UN
Security Council members plus Germany) and Iran, was, like many
complex pieces of international diplomacy, a necessarily imperfect
creation born out of compromise and necessity.
Aside from its utilitarian moniker, it was dependent for its
survival on continued waivers of US secondary sanctions by the US
President (a function of the congressional approval of the deal in
the first place). It was also limited – quite deliberately
– in the scope of its ambition: it did not seek to settle
disputes concerning Iranian intervention in regional conflicts,
Iran's human rights record or its ballistic missile program.
And, much to the chagrin of Iran hawks in the US and elsewhere, the
sunset clauses place no
