JCPOA: Former US President Barack Obama Explains Why Getting Out From The Iran Deal Is Bad. Donald Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the Iran deal today (May 8). Runs the risk of dangerous consequences not just for the nation but for diplomatic relations across the globe.

Including that for North Korea. And, arguably, there is no one more qualified to defend the deal. He breaks down the risks in abandoning it than former president Barack Obama. Who led the signing of the 2015 agreement that Trump just broke.

The initial agreement. Known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action JCPOA. Signed by the US alongside several other nations to drop economic sanctions for Iran. In exchange for the Middle Eastern country to scale back its nuclear program. Since then, trade has boomed for nations. Both individually and collectively, such as the European Union.

However, after Trump abandoned the Iran deal, politicians and analysts from across the globe have criticized the move as unwise and noted that it risks increasing the tensions within the Middle East, as well as alienating the important US allies (including the EU) who signed the deal alongside America.

In a statement released commenting on Trump’s decision on the JCPOA. Obama highlighted the success achieved by the deal so far and what breaking the pact could mean for the global stage. Not just on a practical level. But as a symbol of a diplomatic achievement and an American commitment. Particularly at a time when the US is focusing on a peaceful solution of the tensions with North Korea.

This decision, Obama says, makes America—not Iran—look untrustworthy. “The consistent flouting of agreements that our country is a party to risks eroding America’s credibility,” he writes, “and puts us at odds with the world’s major powers.”

Obama also clearly distills the serious risks in abandoning a framework to control Iran’s nuclear program. “If the constraints on Iran’s nuclear program under the JCPOA are lost,” “we could be hastening the day when we are faced with the choice between living with that threat or going to war to prevent it.”

An important decision to the security of the United States than the potential spread of nuclear weapons. Or the potential for even more destructive war in the Middle East. That’s why the United States negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action JCPOA in the first place.

The reality is clear. The JCPOA is working, is a view shared between our European allies, independent experts, and the current U.S Secretary of Defense. The JCPOA is in America’s interest to significantly roll back Iran’s nuclear program. Finaly the JCPOA is a model for what diplomacy can accomplish.

Its inspections and verification regime is precisely what the United States should be working to put in place with North Korea. Indeed, at a time when we are all rooting for diplomacy with North Korea to succeed, walking away from the JCPOA risks losing a deal that accomplishes with Iran – the very outcome that we are pursuing with the North Koreans.

This is why today’s announcement it is so misguided. Walking away from the JCPOA turns our back on America’s closest allies and an agreement that our country’s leading diplomats, scientists, and intelligence professionals negotiated. In a democracy, there will always be changes in policies and priorities from one Administration to the next. But the consistent flouting of agreements that our country is a party to risks eroding America’s credibility, and puts us at odds with the world’s major powers.

Debates in our country should based on facts, especially debates that have proven to be divisive. So it’s important to review several facts about the JCPOA.

First, the JCPOA was not just an agreement between my Administration and the Iranian government. After years of building an international coalition that could impose crippling sanctions on Iran, we reached the JCPOA together with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the European Union, Russia, China, and Iran. It is a multilateral arms control deal, unanimously endorsed by a United Nations Security Council Resolution.

Second, the JCPOA has worked in rolling back Iran’s nuclear program. For decades, Iran had steadily advanced its nuclear program, approaching the point where they could rapidly produce enough fissile material to build a bomb. The JCPOA put a lid on that breakout capacity. Since the JCPOA implemented, Iran has destroyed the core of a reactor that could have produced weapons-grade plutonium; removed two-thirds of its centrifuges (over 13,000) and placed them under international monitoring; and eliminated 97 percent of its stockpile of enriched uranium – the raw materials necessary for a bomb. So by any measure, the JCPOA has imposed strict limitations on Iran’s nuclear program and achieved real results.

Third, the JCPOA does not rely on trust. It is rooted in the most far-reaching inspections and verification regime ever negotiated in arms control deal. Iran’s nuclear facilities are strictly monitored.

International Inspectors also have access to Iran’s entire nuclear supply chain, so we can catch them if they cheat. Without the JCPOA, this monitoring and inspections regime would go away.

Fourth, Iran is complying with the JCPOA. That was not simply the view of my Administration. The United States intelligence community has continued to find that Iran is meeting its responsibilities under the deal, and has reported as much to Congress. So have our closest allies, and the international agency responsible for verifying Iranian compliance – the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Fifth, the JCPOA does not expire. The prohibition on Iran ever obtaining a nuclear weapon is permanent. Some of the most important and intrusive inspections codified by the JCPOA are permanent. Even as some of the provisions in the JCPOA do become less strict with time, this won’t happen until ten, fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five years into the deal, so there is little reason to put those restrictions at risk today.

Finally, the JCPOA never intended to solve all of our problems with Iran. Including support for terrorism, and threats toward Israel and its neighbors.

But that’s precisely why it so important that we prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Every aspect of Iranian behavior is troubling. It is dangerous if the nuclear program is unconstrained.

Our ability to confront Iran’s destabilizing behavior. And to sustain purpose unity with our allies is strengthened with the JCPOA, and weakened without it.

Because of these facts, I believe that the decision to put the JCPOA at risk without any Iranian violation of the deal is a serious mistake. Without the JCPOA, the United States eventually have on hand two losing choices: between a nuclear-armed Iran or another war in the Middle East.

We all know the dangers of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. It could embolden an already dangerous regime; threaten our friends with destruction; pose unacceptable dangers to America’s own security; and trigger an arms race in the world’s most dangerous region. If the constraints on Iran’s nuclear program under the JCPOA are lost, we will hastening the day when we are faced with the choice between living with that threat, or going to war to prevent it.

In a dangerous world, America must be able to rely in part on strong, principled diplomacy to secure our country. We have been safer in the years since we achieved the JCPOA. Thanks in part to the work of our diplomats, many members of Congress, and our allies.

Going forward, I hope Americans continue to speak out in support of strong, principle, fact-based, and unifying leadership. From who can best secure our country and uphold our responsibilities around the globe.