Trump repeats rhetorical support, but no concrete evidence yet

As a candidate, President Donald Trump promised that he would renegotiate the nuclear agreement between Iran and five world powers, including the United States.

Since Trump's promise was declared, he has remained fairly quiet on the matter.

First, some background.

In 2015, the Obama administration finalized an international agreement to limit Iran's nuclear capability. Sometimes called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, the agreement included Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

The deal stipulated that Iran commit to not pursue nuclear weapons, with an international inspection regime to verify that pledge. As long as Iran abided by the terms of the agreement, the United States and other countries agreed to lift sanctions.

The agreement was enacted, but most Republicans criticized the deal as overly lenient.

So far, however, nuclear-policy experts see little overt action to upend the agreement.

"I think it is absolutely not the case that he's renegotiated the deal nor even really indicated an intention to," said Richard Nephew, a senior research scholar on global energy policy at Columbia University. "His own party in Congress is focused on dealing with regional issues, and Chris Ford, his nonproliferation person, essentially said the JCPOA will stand."

Ford, the National Security Council's senior director for weapons of mass destruction and counter-proliferation, indicated that position in late March.

Nephew said it's certainly possible that the policy Ford articulated could be reversed.

Indeed, on April 5, during a joint appearance with King Abdullah II of Jordan, Trump said, "The Iran deal made by the previous administration is one of the worst deals I have ever witnessed, and I've witnessed some beauties. It's one of the worst deals I've ever witnessed. It should never have been made. It was totally one-sided against the United States, and frankly, against much of the Middle East. …  I will do what I have to do with respect to the Iran deal."

It's possible that negotiations to reverse the deal are under way out of the public eye, and if they come to fruition, we'll revise our ruling. For now, though, despite Trump's continued rhetorical support for reversing the deal, there is no concrete evidence of a change in policy. We rate the promise Stalled.