Manon McCollum -- French, German leaders will bring Trump the same message: Save the Iran nuclear deal

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-trump-macron-merkel-20180422-story.html

One of Trump's key campaign promises is about to come to fruition. Throughout the 2016 election, Trump criticized the Iranian Nuclear Arms Deal. He has called it 'terrible,' 'a catastrophe,' 'stupid,' 'insane,' 'incompetent,' 'really sad,' 'horrible,' 'horrendous,' 'horrible,' 'horrible,' 'terrible,' incompetent' and 'one of the dumbest and most dangerous misjudgments ever.' 

The deal, in reality, is a comprehensive and tenuous compromise between Iran, the US, and several other European partners, who are all incredibly worried about what would happen if this deal fell apart. The deadline for the President to renew the deal is approaching, and he seems likely to disband the deal entirely. This would mean, as stated explicitly by Iranian heads of state, that Iran would re-start their nuclear production in full. French president Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have both warned Trump that repealing the accords would have disastrous consequences, including but not limited to the starting of an arms race in the middle east. 

In my opinion, it is moments like these in which presidential leadership is vital to protect the safety of the entire world community. Instead, our current president is prioritizing a half-baked grudge over middle eastern stability. And, most frustrating of all, there is nothing we can do to stop this from happening. This is an issue that falls solely to the executive, and all of Trump's advisers are adamant that this deal be dismantled, and one has even suggested we go to war with Iran to end the current regime. 

This is a direct result of the American involvement in Iran in the 1960s, and the subsequent deposition of the Shah and reign of the Ayatollah Khomeini, which resulted in 55 American citizens being taken hostage. Iran then began to build up a nuclear arsenal, and was met with severe sanctions as a result. In 2015, in return for the lifting of many of these sanctions, Iran greatly decreased its nuclear program and opened itself up to international surveillance. That basically brings us up to now.