Deep state tries to save Obama's bad Iran deal

Washington Free Beacon:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) is accusing multiple senior Trump administration officials in both the Treasury and State Departments of actively working behind President Donald Trump's back to save the Iran nuclear deal and continue providing Tehran with waivers permitting the regime to conduct sensitive nuclear work at a military site that houses Iran's nuclear weapons program.

In reaction to reports that the State Department will renew a series of controversial sanctions waivers that have permitted Iran to continue conducting nuclear work, including at a military bunker dug into the side of mountain, Cruz accused "deep state" officials operating at the State and Treasury Departments of actively working to undermine the administration's so-called "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran.

"If these reports are indeed accurate, then it is a temporary victory for the deep state staffers at Treasury and State who continue working tirelessly to preserve the Obama Iran deal rather than implementing the president's directive," Cruz said. "I will continue to work towards permanently ending the nuclear deal, including by exercising Congress's important oversight responsibility to ensure the implementation of United States policy."

The issue of these civil nuclear waivers has emerged as a flashpoint in the debate over Iran and the future of the nuclear deal. For months, Cruz and other Iran critics in Congress have pressured the State Department to end these waivers, which they say have allowed Iran to continue its march towards a functional nuclear weapon.

While top officials in the White House had anticipated that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would end these waivers in the coming weeks, new reports indicate that the State Department will again renew the sanctions waivers, roiling opponents of the nuclear deal.

The waivers have been linked to the preservation of the deal itself. European countries still party to the nuclear deal have been working with Iran for months on plans to skirt the toughest of new U.S. sanctions issued by the Trump administration.
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I have not heard a rational argument in support of these waives.  They seem inconsistent with a maximum pressure campaign.  It looks like an indefensible position.