Haley's Dishonest Speech About the Iran Nuclear Agreement

September 5, 2017 Topic: Iran Nuclear Proliferation Region: Middle East Blog Brand: Paul Pillar

Haley's Dishonest Speech About the Iran Nuclear Agreement

Haley claimed to welcome debate about whether the JCPOA is in U.S. national security interests.  She asserted that “the previous administration set up the deal in a way that denied us that honest and serious debate.”  No it didn’t: there was plenty of debate, including during the enactment of the very legislation to which she referred.  If her speech at AEI is an indication, she is not really interested in the part about honesty and sincerity.

Despite all the obfuscation and innuendo and distortions in Haley’s speech, the most important facts about the JCPOA are clear.  The agreement is working.  Iran is complying with it.  The agreement prevents any Iranian nuclear weapon—which, before the JCPOA, those who are declaiming most loudly against the agreement today were saying was their biggest concern.  As for all those other things that Iran does and that people don’t like, killing the JCPOA will do nothing to attenuate or prevent them.  Killing the agreement will only empower elements in Iran that most favor the sorts of behavior we don’t like.

And reneging on the agreement will deal another blow to U.S. credibility, which Trump already has badly battered.