Of course, if he fails, the risk for the French president is that he will be seen as Trump’s lackey. The president, who has until Oct. 15 to certify Iran’s compliance with the deal to Congress, says he’s made a decision. Preserving the Iran deal, which is working, is a no-brainer for all but those with an interest in seeing Iran cast in permanence as a kind of Middle Eastern Satan. As I wrote when the deal was concluded in 2015: “The Iran nuclear deal is not perfect, nor was it ever intended to address the long list of American-Iranian grievances, which will persist. Its success is crucial to the stemming of authoritarianism — both in Europe and in Trump’s United States.

Source: New York Times September 21, 2017 20:03 UTC