To kill the Iran nuclear deal entirely would require a vote that needs all 52 Republican senators, as well as eight Democrats, to agree.

Opponents of the deal argue that, if we abandon the deal, our international reputation will suffer and show that we can’t be trusted. As well, if we opt out, our allies may not follow.

However, Shmuley Boteach, whom the Washington Post calls “the most famous Rabbi in America,” and is the international best-selling author of 31 books, in his article for The Algemeiner, writes, “Firstly, the dangers of a nuclear Iran more than justify the deal’s revocation by a new administration. This is especially true considering the fact that, as a democracy, administration and policy changes are to be expected from the United States. It might not be something that a dictatorship like Iran can understand, but it is something that we — as Americans — certainly should.”

In fact, Senator Tom Cotton wrote to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that since President Barack Obama did not ratify the deal with Congress, it could be revoked by a different president with the stroke of a pen.

Those opposed to the deal say that Iran isn’t keeping to the spirit of the deal.

Israeli intelligence officials reported in September that international IAEA inspectors were denied entry into a critical Iranian military installation at Parchin.

The Institute for Science and International Security, a conglomerate of leading scientists, recently released a report demanding that the IAEA gain access to Parchin, which they said was marked by “plenty of evidence of past Iranian nuclear weapons activity.”

The nuclear deal stipulates that Iran must give inspectors access to all sites of suspected nuclear development, but an official from Iran’s nuclear implementation committee announced quite bluntly last week that, “Americans will not be allowed to inspect the military bases.”

Boteach continues, “Moreover, those heralding the reputational risks ignore the far-more delegitimizing effects of continued American support for the deal. After all, in signing the Iran agreement, America endangered some of its most important allies — such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and, most importantly, Israel —
all of whom legitimately fear Iranian hegemony in the Middle East. In fact, we’re already feeling the effects of the plummeting value of our friendships.”

According to The Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, the message of King Salman of Saudi Arabia’s first ever royal visit two weeks ago to Russia, was clear, “The kingdom [is] looking to diversify into wider set of alliances,” due no doubt in part to their “fears about US reliability.”

The most commonly used argument for why America can’t retreat from the Iran deal is that Europe and Asia won’t follow suit. If they refuse to sanction Iran, the regime in Tehran will maintain the economic capability to produce a nuclear weapon.

“To this, I respond simply,” writes Boteac, “Russia, China and Europe will abide by any move we make.” He adds that, “The United States, the world’s largest economy, boasts a financial system worth a whopping $19 trillion. No major economy will risk losing access to that. Certainly not in exchange for access to Iran’s $400 billion economy.
Sure, Russia, China, and Europe will threaten non-compliance. But in the end, they’ll comply.”

Richard Goldberg, one of the leading architects of congressional sanctions against Iran said that that’s exactly the pattern. When Senators Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) put together a bill imposing sanctions on the National Bank of Iran, they were begged to withdraw. They were warned that European allies had sworn not to comply. In the end, “every European and Asian ally that had come to Capitol Hill to lobby against the amendment fully complied with it after it came into force.” Still, months later, when Europeans refused to cut Iran out of the global SWIFT financial network, legislation was drafted to cut SWIFT out of US markets, and the Europeans gave in.

This also played out with the passage of the Iran Threat Reduction Act and the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act.

According to Goldberg, “Cry as they might along the way, no European or Asian corporation is going to choose a terrorist regime over access to the U.S. dollar.”

The US has the power to stop Iran, as President Trump said, America is already great enough.