Would We Be Better Off Today With the JCPOA?
Key takeaways
- Get audio access with any FP subscription.
- Eight years ago, President Donald Trump took the United States out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known more commonly as the Iran nuclear deal.
- It’s no surprise, given the partisan divide, that many people want to say, “We told you so!” But are they right?
Get audio access with any FP subscription.
Eight years ago, President Donald Trump took the United States out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known more commonly as the Iran nuclear deal. In the years since, half of Washington has continued to argue that the JCPOA was “the best possible deal,” with the other half maintaining that “there was a better deal.” It has been the background music to every twist and turn in U.S. Iran policy since 2018 but has come to the fore again since Trump launched Operation Epic Fury.
Supporters of the JCPOA have argued that if the United States had remained in the deal, the Iranian nuclear program would have been limited and under international inspection, making the current war and its attendant economic costs unnecessary and unjustified.