Suzanne Maloney

To the extent the rest of the world is watching this soap opera [regarding Iran] play out in Washington… it really does telegraph how limited our influence is going to be on key issues like this in the future.

The longevity of the [Iran nuclear] deal comes into question if the United States is taking specific actions to undermine it, even decertification.

[Decertification of the nuclear deal] only confirms Iran’s deep-seated distrust of American intentions and will almost certainly encourage and expedite the inevitable process of Iranian testing of the boundaries of its own adherence to the JCPOA... [W]e can expect intensified frictions across the board with Iran, that may play out in unpredictable and potentially uncontrollable fashion.

No one has yet explained the tactical advantage of [decertifying the Iran nuclear deal], no one has made a credible case. This will hurt our relations with our allies, it will provoke Iran to take more aggressive action and it’s all designed to assuage the president’s ego.

The administration is sort of spinning to find a pathway to satisfy the president’s desire to assert Iran’s noncompliance, but without necessarily erupting a second nuclear crisis.