By Jaedeok Hong ‘19In a speech on Friday, October 13th, President Trump struck a blow against the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or Iran Nuclear agreement, as he accused Iran of non-compliance. Furthermore, he detailed a more aggressive approach to Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and its support for extremist groups that have been destabilizing Syria, Yemen, and Iraq.The landmark deal, signed in July 2015, prevents Iran from building a nuclear bomb. Iran, along with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council – the US, Britain, France, China, and Russia – agreed that sanctions that were in place for years would be lifted. This meant that Iran can re-open its market to foreign investors and conduct new trade agreements with other national entities.Trump’s hatred toward the “worst deal ever” has been publicly known even before his presidential campaign, but instead of terminating the agreement or re-imposing sanctions, he told Congress to toughen the law that would snap sanctions in place if Iran tries to ramp up its nuclear program. His national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said that the president’s threat to cancel the Iran deal “set out a marker” for the United States and its allies to fix what he called “a weak deal that is being weakly monitored.”The speech angered Tehran, and the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blasted the Trump administration with an immediate response, stating that if the deal’s other signatories “refuse to abide by their commitments, Iran will not hesitate”. The prevailing interpretation is that with further escalation, Iran will abandon the pact and accelerate Iran’s nuclear program to reach nuclear-bomb capabilities.European allies have warned of a split with the United States over the nuclear agreement and say that causing uncertainty and disruption undermines U.S. credibility abroad, especially as international inspectors are backing Iran’s compliance. Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, confirmed that the “commitments undertaken by Iran under the JCPOA are being implemented.”At a moment when the United States and its allies face a nuclear crisis with North Korea, Trump has created a new front with Iran, potentially isolating the U.S. from its allies, all the while forging foreign deals that he himself claim to be ‘stupid’. The President’s political instability is widely evident, and his competency as a head of a superpower is garnering concerns.Sources:http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/10/13/557616444/trump-threatened-to-kill-the-iran-nuclear-deal-but-the-deal-wins-for-nowhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/10/15/trump-national-security-team-preaches-calm-over-iran-deal-but-warns-u-s-might-still-leave/?utm_term=.c3619ca51309https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-usa/trump-strikes-blow-at-iran-nuclear-deal-in-major-u-s-policy-shift-idUSKBN1CI24Ihttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/15/mcmaster-allies-back-trump-on-iran-nuke-deal-tehran-not-trustworthy.htmlhttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/23/trumps-irrational-hatred-of-the-iran-dealhttps://www.timesofisrael.com/irans-speaker-if-us-walks-away-from-deal-tehran-may-follow/