The nuclear deal struck between Iran and the former administration is so weak it is impossible to enforce, meaning President Trump should tear it up, former UN ambassador John Bolton wrote in The Wall Street Journal.
Bolton wrote the column in response to Iran's recent ballistic missile tests that ostensibly violate the U.S.-Iran agreement. Bolton pushes back on those who say the U.S. should keep the deal in place but strictly enforce the agreement.
Not possible, Bolton wrote.
"'Strictly enforcing' the deal is as likely to succeed as nailing Jell-O to a wall," Bolton wrote. "Not only does the entire agreement reflect appeasement, but President Obama's diplomacy produced weak, ambiguous, and confusing language in many specific provisions."
Making matters worse, the U.S. under Obama indulged Iran's lie it does not have a nuclear-weapons program.
"Iran is not forbidden from engaging in all ballistic-missile activity, merely 'called upon' to do so," Bolton wrote. "The range of proscribed activity is distinctly limited, applying only to missiles 'designed to be capable' of carrying nuclear weapons. Implementation is left to the Security Council.
"The loopholes are larger than the activity supposedly barred. Iran simply denies that its missiles are 'designed' for nuclear payloads — because, after all, it does not have a nuclear-weapons program. This is a palpable lie.
"The upshot is very simple: Iran can't violate the ballistic-missile language because it has reaffirmed that it doesn't have a nuclear-weapons program. Really, what could go wrong?" Bolton wrote.
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