The Iran nuclear deal is history. Or is it?

In pulling the United States out and reinstating sanctions on Iran Tuesday, President Trump said, “If I allowed this deal to stand, there would soon be a nuclear arms race in the Middle East…. The Iran deal is defective at its core.”

Did Mr. Trump pull out of the Iran deal with the same finality as when he pulled the US out of the Paris climate agreement? Or is this another NAFTA revise or North Korea play? When Trump negotiates, he goes in hard and makes dire threats. “You can’t be scared. You do your thing, you hold your ground, you stand up tall, and whatever happens, happens,” he wrote in “Trump: The Art of the Deal.”

French President Emmanuel Macron says that Trump is consistent and predictable. “Your president is a dealmaker,” Mr. Macron told US reporters two weeks ago. “So he wants to find a deal, and he wants to find a deal under his condition.”  

But Trump’s transactional diplomacy is high risk. With the deal broken, Iran could restart its nuclear program and be back on the path to developing a nuclear weapon. Or, Iran could stick to the terms of the deal with Europe, China, and Russia, who are important trading partners. Similar to the situation with the Paris climate accord, the US leaves, but everyone else carries on.

It didn’t sound like it today, but in six months Trump could seek to curb Iran’s regional ambitions with a new deal, negotiated with Europe’s help. And The Dealmaker could put his stamp of approval on a “better” Iran nuclear deal.

In tomorrow’s issue, the Monitor’s Howard LaFranchi will take a closer look at the relationship between the Iran nuclear deal and negotiations with North Korea. What does the new Trump foreign-policy team of Mike Pompeo and John Bolton tell us about what’s next on Iran?

Now to our five selected stories, including why Russia’s path to security means cutting military spending and how Puerto Rican moms are finding empowerment in rebuilding after the hurricane.