McMaster admitted that the nuclear deal has some significant shortcomings, but said that the compliance granted to the Islamic Republic was done so because it had not violated the agreement. He said that Iran’s behaviour has not improved since the signing of the nuclear deal.

His comments were somewhat surprising because previous to this he had said that Iran has defaulted on the spirit of the agreement. Many analysts and experts as well as a number of senators say that there is substantial evidence to show that Iran is in violation of the terms.

The National Security Adviser’s comments are also strange because he is expecting the public to believe that after all these months the Trump administration is still not sure whether the Iranian regime is in breach of the nuclear deal or not.
His argument shifted again at the weekend when he said that Iran has in fact violated the spirit of the nuclear deal and on occasions it has violated the terms themselves. He emphasised that the IAEA was instructed to take immediate remedial action following the breach of terms.

However, McMaster’s comments are misleading because Iran has flat-out refused to let the IAEA have access to its military sites. In any case, the IAEA has been criticised for its treatment regarding inspections of nuclear sites in Iran. It has not been totally transparent in its compliance monitoring of the deal.

McMaster also forgot to mention that German Intelligence reports have been released, showing that Iran is cheating on the nuclear deal.

McMaster’s flip-flopping around the subject seems to indicate that he wants the United States to keep the nuclear deal in place. Despite the many people who argue that the deal should be scrapped, many others are convinced that the agreement should stay intact. Some fear that pulling out of the deal will open the United States up to numerous national security issues. McMaster is probably very aware that there is a real possibility that the Trump administration will not agree to certify Iran with compliance for a third time this October.