On May 8, President Donald Trump announced he would be re-imposing tariffs on the Islamic Republic of Iran, effectively withdrawing the U.S. from the Join Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the “Iran Nuclear Deal.”
According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonpartisan non-governmental organization, Iran has pursued nuclear weapons since the 1970s. The NTI also notes global intelligence agencies have “long suspected Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover for clandestine weapons development.” 
With Iran looming ever closer to achieving nuclear status, the former President Barack Obama tasked his Secretary of State, John Kerry, with reaching an agreement with Iran inhibiting the country’s nuclear capability, ensuring nuclear energy would only be developed for civilian purposes. On July 14, 2015, Kerry finalized the agreement with Iran, the other P5 nations and the European Union.
On April 30 of this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, had unearthed several bookshelves-worth of files and CDs representing Iran’s “nuclear archive.” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo validated the Prime Minister’s claims.  
This so-called nuclear archive is not in and of itself a violation on behalf of Iran, but precedent shows a country keeping these types of records is hardly ever doing so for benevolent causes. In the presentation of his evidence, Prime Minister Netanyahu proved Iran is violating its obligations as a Non-Nuclear Weapon State set by the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which requires signatories “not to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons.” 
According to the Washington Post, possessing documents about producing nuclear weapons contradicts the spirit of the treaty, because such documents could promote the development of nuclear weapons. Though the NPT and the JCPOA are two different treaties, both revolve around the sensitive subject of nuclear proliferation and Iran’s willingness to violate one treaty indicates its willingness to violate the other. Especially with talks of denuclearization set to occur with North Korea, it is vital the U.S. now shows the world how violations of international treaties shall not be tolerated.
Since the launch of his campaign, Trump cited the JCOPA as “one of the worst deals of all time,” so it surprised no one when Trump took the first opportunity he had to withdraw the U.S. from the deal.  Bipartisan majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate also opposed the JCOPA, because the deal unfroze nearly one billion dollars in Iranian assets, despite the U.S. State Department still referring to Iran as the “foremost state sponsor of terrorism.”
Rather than using the money to aid domestic turmoil, Fox News reports the Iranian government invested this money into their ballistic missile program, and provided additional aid to Hezbollah, a terrorist organization in Lebanon actively attempting to eradicate the Jewish people.  Iran has also used their surge in income to support Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad, with whom the U.S. is currently engaged in armed conflict. 
The deal also failed to implement one of Obama’s and Kerry’s basic requirements:  “anytime, anywhere inspections.” In fact, Iran vigorously refuses to allow the United Nation’s International Energy Agency (IEA) to inspect its military facilities, so whether or not its military is complying with the deal is left for the Iranian government to report. 
It is a bit like a professor giving you the key to a test, telling you not to use it, then walking out of the room as you lock the door and take your test in private. 
Noting the evidence the JCOPA was a bad deal from the start, Trump should be applauded for taking a stand against Iran. However, the question must be asked: if not through the JCOPA, then how does the U.S. prevent Iran from achieving nuclear breakthroughs? Sanctions.  
The U.S. should impose economic sanctions against this state sponsor of terrorism until its government shows clear and irrefutable signs of moving away from funding terrorist organizations, militarily backing the U.S.’ enemies and propping up dictators who commit genocide against their own people.