Dealbreaker

The Iran nuclear deal was a crowning moment of
international diplomacy, allowing the world to step away
from the edge of a self-created abyss. Donald Trump’s
decision to withdraw from this agreement threatens to
return the world to that precipice.

Dealbreaker recounts how this deal was made, why it was broken, and what the consequences of that action could be.

When the United States made the decision in the 1980s
to deny Iran access to nuclear technology, Iran was
forced to turn to the black market to get the material,
technology and know-how required to meet its need for
nuclear power generation, inclusive of the ability to
indigenously produce nuclear fuel. The revelation of
Iran’s secret nuclear program in 2002 set in motion a
battle of wills between the Iranians, who viewed nuclear
power as their inherent right, and the rest of the world,
who feared the proliferation implications of allowing Iran
access to technology that could be used to make a
nuclear weapon.

The United States and its ally, Israel, pulled no punches,
using diplomatic pressure to impose crippling economic
sanctions, and covert activities to sow disinformation,
sabotage equipment and murder Iranian nuclear
scientists in an effort to stop the Iranian nuclear program
from going forward. Iran prevailed, confronting the
United States with the choice of either going to war, or
accepting the reality of an Iranian nuclear program. The
Iranian nuclear deal was the result.

But the deal had an Achilles heel—the disinformation
campaign waged by the United States and Israel to paint
the Iranian program as military in nature left a residue of
uncertainty and fear that the detractors of the deal used
to attack it as little more than a sham. Donald Trump
decried the Iranian nuclear deal as a “failed agreement”
and promised to tear it up if he were elected President.
Trump prevailed in the election, and ended up being as
good as his word, pulling America out of the Iranian
nuclear deal on May 12, 2018.

Dealbreaker explores the nuances of the Iranian nuclear
program, exposing the duplicity and hypocrisy of
American diplomacy, supported by Israel and abetted by
Europe, that led to the need for the Iranian nuclear deal
and eventually caused the demise of an agreement that
was simultaneously “the deal of the century” and fatally
flawed.