Seven months into the Trump presidency and two countries have already been at the top of the administration's hit-list, North Korea and Iran. North Korea for their ballistic missile testing and Iran over the nuclear deal completed by the former Obama administration. To the President's frustration, he has had to comply with the agreement in order to re-certify Iran of not being in violation of the deal. Thus far, he has re-certified them twice but has reportedly signaled that he would not do so after the next review.

Trump vs world over Iran Nuclear Accord

Donald Trump has said of the Iran Nuclear deal, otherwise known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was the "worst deal" in history. During his campaign, Donald Trump has bragged about how much of a great deal maker he is in order to identify that the JCPOA as a "bad deal". But the deal was also an extremely complicated deal to make which is further confirmed by the fact that is has the support of nations under the P+5 and the European Union having signing onto it. Nonetheless, President Trump had reportedly started seeking different advisers that would be more determined to find a way to make Iran look as if they were in violation of the deal.

Agreements are too complex for Trump to take on

Rex Tillerson said recently that Iran was in violation of the "spirit" of the agreement but then said that the U.S. was "working" with other nations to make sure they enforced the deal more securely against Iran. Specifically, Tillerson referred to the "utility" of the agreement and whether there was one to hold Iran accountable with.

Even those who spent years opposing the JCPOA had agreed to force Iran to be more accountable under the deal and had reportedly held talks with leaders of those nations that have signed onto the deal with the United States. But much like the Paris Climate Agreement which includes 190 countries, the European Union has refused to make a new deal under pressure from President Trump.

Obstacles to anti-Iranian agenda

While on the surface Trump has given the appearance that he would be diplomatically harder on Iran with signing a new sanctions bill before going on vacation, it's been reported that his chief strategist Steve Bannon had Iran marked for regime change. Bannon has reportedly created his own power center to parallel the National Security Council from which he was removed. This "power center" involved members with fringe ideas who were drawing up plans for an invasion and hoping to influence the President's decision. But because the President reportedly doesn't want to be bogged down in another war just like previous administrations have and with Bannon losing influence, it's likely that neither regime change nor withdrawing from the deal is likely.
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