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A more dangerous world

5/15/2018, 8:40 a.m.

President Trump is a menace to society.

His announcement Tuesday that he is scrapping the Iran nuclear agreement, that was negotiated in part by former President Obama, threatens to destabilize the Middle East by increasing the potential for the spread of nuclear weapons and alienating our nation’s allies and the international coalition that helped build the arms control deal with Iran. 

In addition to our country’s long-term European allies signing onto the deal, Russia and China also were part of the coalition to rein in Iran.

The agreement with Iran, which also was endorsed by a U.N. Security Council resolution, allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor, inspect and verify that Iran was meeting the agreement’s terms of rolling back its nuclear program.

According to reports, Iran has taken numerous steps toward getting rid of its nuclear capabilities since signing onto the agreement, including eliminating a majority of its stockpile of enriched uranium, the raw material necessary for a nuclear weapon of mass destruction.

President Trump’s decision means the United States will be re-imposing trade sanctions that will affect companies seeking to trade with Iran since the deal was put into place.

Unfortunately, it also signals that more money will be pumped into the military and arms by the federal government, with less being put toward other critical needs, such as health care, education, social programs and aging infrastructure.

But without any violation of the nuclear deal by Iran — and a slap in the face to French President Emmanuel Macron and other allies — President Trump has torn up the deal that has managed to take the first steps toward securing a peaceful future with Iran, a major power in the volatile section of the world called the Middle East.

The president’s bluster is bolstered by the dangerous “yes” men now by his side — hawkish John Bolton, President Trump’s new national security adviser, who in the past has called for bombing Iran and North Korea, and hardliner Mike Pompeo, a former Tea Party member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas who President Trump recently shifted from head of the CIA to secretary of state after dumping Rex Tillerson.

Mr. Pompeo scored bonus points Wednesday by flying home to the United States with three American prisoners released from North Korea ahead of President Trump’s planned meeting with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un.

We wonder what deal was struck by President Trump to secure their release, including what the United States offered to North Korea in exchange for their return.

But we also remain concerned how President Trump’s scrubbing of the Iran deal will impact future diplomatic negotiations with Kim Jong Un. Both men are seemingly volatile and impetuous, dangerous characteristics for those in control of nuclear weapons.

Even former President Obama, who typically doesn’t weigh in on current events, issued a statement saying he believes the U.S. decision to pull out of the Iran agreement is “a serious mistake.”

President Obama urged Americans “to speak out in support of the kind of strong, principled, fact-based and unifying leadership that can best secure our country and uphold our responsibilities around the globe.”

We agree. And we urge our readers to call the White House and their elected representatives in Washington to have the president’s action rescinded.