Keep the nuclear deal in place and contain Iran

US President Donald Trump devoted a large part of his address before the United Nations General Assembly last week to denouncing the nuclear agreement that his predecessor in office reached with Iran, lambasting it as an "embarrassment" to the United States.

And the American President - who has accused the Iranian regime of threatening the interests of the US and its allies by destabilising the Middle East and exporting terrorism - suggested that he intended to revisit the 2015 accord, and perhaps even abrogate it as he had pledged during the 2016 presidential campaign. The deal that Iran signed with the US (as well as with Britain, France, Germany and Russia) required Teheran to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Former president Barack Obama had criticised Teheran's policies in the Middle East and admitted that the nuclear deal was not perfect. But he insisted that it was the best solution available to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon without taking military action. That view is shared not only by the other five governments that brokered the nuclear deal but also by physicists, military officials, non-proliferation experts, and more than 100 countries across the globe who have all voiced support for it. At the same time, two of America's Middle East allies - Saudi Arabia and Israel - have opposed the nuclear agreement with Iran and have warned that the Islamic Republic was intent on developing nuclear weapons. That position has been endorsed by the majority of Republicans and a few Democrats on Capitol Hill as well as by President Trump himself, who has until Oct 15 to certify whether Iran has been complying with the deal.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear-monitoring arm of the UN, has found Iran in compliance with the agreement, a conclusion that opened the way to the easing of economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for its variable guarantees of its commitment to pursuing a peaceful nuclear effort. In fact, President Trump and his top national security advisers have yet to present any concrete evidence that Iran is violating the agreement. And all the other signatories to the agreement - including Britain, France and Germany - have made it clear that they want to leave the current agreement in place, warning that revoking it would allow the Iranians to resume uranium enrichment that is restricted under the 2015 deal.