FOREIGN POLICY/IRAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Thursday [9-14-17] is expected to extend sanctions relief to Iran, U.S. officials said, retaining for now the U.S. commitment to the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement, whose fate nonetheless remains uncertain.
As part of the international deal, the U.S. agreed to waive a wide range of sanctions on Iran and must renew the waiver every 120 days. Thursday is the deadline for renewing that waiver.
While Mr. Trump is expected to renew the waiver and extend U.S. sanctions relief, he also is nearing another deadline in October to certify to Congress that Iran is in compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal.
Mr. Trump, a severe critic of the nuclear agreement, has twice informed Congress that Iran is meeting its obligations under the deal, but told The Wall Street Journal in July he doesn’t expect to certify in October that Tehran is in compliance. He has been briefed on various options, including certifying Iran’s compliance and several ways not to.
U.S. officials said a final decision on the certification due in October hasn’t been made and that it is unclear what the president will do. The administration has been conducting a review of its Iran policy that is still under way.
Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran agreed with the U.S. and five other powers to curtail its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. The United Nations nuclear watchdog, which is in charge of inspecting Iranian activities, said again Monday that Iran is abiding by the agreement.”
-Felicia Schwartz and Laurence Norman, “U.S. Expected to Keep Iran Nuclear Deal in Place for Now,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 14, 2017 10:34am