Mike Pompeo lied about the nuclear deal again this morning in his interview with Norah O’Donnell:

We only wish that the previous administration had taken that threat seriously with respect to the Islamic Republic of Iran. They cut a deal that puts Iran on a path towards nuclear weapons.

Pompeo’s interviewers usually never challenge him when he makes these false statements, and this interviewer was no different. The average viewer that watches this interview probably won’t know that the Secretary of State just brazenly lied in public yet again, and O’Donnell doesn’t even attempt to question or correct what he said. Like most of Pompeo’s whoppers, this one does not require special expertise to spot that he isn’t telling the truth. An agreement that imposes the most intrusive inspections regime in existence and places significant restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program obviously prevents Iran from developing and building nuclear weapons, and Iran has been in compliance with that agreement since its inception. There is absolutely nothing that supports Pompeo’s assertion, and all of the evidence contradicts it.

There is no honest assessment of the JCPOA that allows anyone to conclude that it “puts Iran on a path towards nuclear weapons.” If there is a path for Iran to get nuclear weapons, the JCPOA blocks it or destroys it. Opponents of the deal have to deny this because it would become obvious how perverse their opposition is if they admitted that the deal does exactly what it is supposed to do. Pompeo’s suggestion that this administration takes the danger of proliferation more seriously than the previous administration did is risible, and we know that it isn’t true because Trump and Pompeo have made destroying a successful nonproliferation agreement one of their top foreign policy priorities.

It is a serious matter when top U.S. officials routinely lie to the public about important foreign policy and national security issues. We are so accustomed to dishonest arguments from Iran hawks that it can be easy to become numb to this after a while, but it is crucial that we don’t let the administration get away with its habit of simply making things up about Iran, the JCPOA, and their nuclear program. Trump, Pompeo, and Bolton have been trying for months to promote the fiction that Iran seeks nuclear weapons, and their attempts to deceive the public must be called out and answered whenever they occur.