Trump allowed Iran to go nuclear, but Biden will get the blame by Max Boot
As he travels around the Middle East this week, President Biden is struggling with the fallout of what may turn out to be the single worst diplomatic blunder in U.S. history: President Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. Even though Iran was complying with the agreement, Trump called it “defective at its core” and warned that “if we do nothing … in just a short period of time, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the world’s most dangerous weapons.”
When Trump spoke those words, Iran’s “breakout time” — the period it would need to accumulate enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon — was about a year. In May, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran’s breakout time was essentially at zero. Under the nuclear deal, Iran could not enrich uranium beyond 3.67 percent. Now, it is enriching up to 60 percent (far closer to weapons grade) and its stockpile of enriched uranium is 18 times greater than what was allowed under the nuclear deal. Iran already has enough highly enriched uranium to make a nuclear bomb within a few weeks. Within six months it could produce five bombs.
Trump allowed Iran to go nuclear, but Biden will get the blame by Max Boot
As he travels around the Middle East this week, President Biden is struggling with the fallout of what may turn out to be the single worst diplomatic blunder in U.S. history: President Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. Even though Iran was complying with the agreement, Trump called it “defective at its core” and warned that “if we do nothing … in just a short period of time, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the world’s most dangerous weapons.”
When Trump spoke those words, Iran’s “breakout time” — the period it would need to accumulate enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon — was about a year. In May, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran’s breakout time was essentially at zero. Under the nuclear deal, Iran could not enrich uranium beyond 3.67 percent. Now, it is enriching up to 60 percent (far closer to weapons grade) and its stockpile of enriched uranium is 18 times greater than what was allowed under the nuclear deal. Iran already has enough highly enriched uranium to make a nuclear bomb within a few weeks. Within six months it could produce five bombs.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/13/trump-biden-iran-nuclear-deal-dead-no-alternative/