The Guardian | Jonathan Freedland: The bar is set so low for Donald Trump that every day he doesnt trigger a nuclear confrontation with a distant adversary is seen as a bonus. Today was one such day, as Trump signalled that he would not, after all,tear up the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, as many including his closest lieutenants oncefeared he would.
Sure, hedisavowed the accord, slamming Tehran as a rogue regime, imposing fresh sanctions on the Revolutionary Guard and refusing to certify that Iran has complied with its terms, but he did not feed it into the shredder. Instead, he kicked the decision on its future over to Congress. That certainly puts the deals survival in jeopardy, but it does at least live to see another day..
Thats a cause for relief, because the international agreement that put severe, if not watertight, constraints on Tehrans nuclear ambitions had looked set to be the latest victim of an emerging Trump doctrine. Distilled, that credo amounts to: In the absence of a vision of my own, Ill destroy everything Obama did.