Aides reportedly had to deal with a 'furious' Trump over Iran nuclear deal
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and several of President Trump's other senior advisers have spent the last several months coming up with a plan that takes into account Trump's anger over the Iran nuclear deal without completely killing the agreement, seven people with knowledge of the situation told The Washington Post.
In mid-July, the Post says, a "furious" Trump argued with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis, and others who said while the 2015 deal, brokered by former President Barack Obama, was not perfect, it offered stability. Trump "threw a fit," a person familiar with the meeting told the Post. That's when McMaster took the lead on crafting a plan that would get Trump to compromise.
Congressional leaders were briefed on the plan Wednesday, and Trump is expected to announce it to the public on either Thursday or Friday. It's believed Trump will say the Iran deal is not in America's national interest, and he might announce new sanctions or penalties on Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Post reports. He will pass the buck to Congress, and they will decide what to do next with the deal.
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It was Congress that made it a requirement for the president to recommit to the Iran deal every 90 days, and many leaders, as well as Trump advisers, believe that the agreement is an important tool in protecting the world from an Iranian nuclear bomb. Vali Nasr, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, told the Post that Trump's fury stems from his ongoing obsession with the last president. "He doesn't want to certify the Iran deal for more domestic reasons than international ones," he said. "He doesn't want to certify that any piece of the Obama strategy is working."
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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