Let’s say you make a bargain, and that bargain contains penalties for the other side if they violate its terms. Then you quit the bargain and begin damaging the other side. In what universe do you get to impose the penalties from the bargain you abandoned?

Iran hawks refuse to take responsibility for anything they do. They desperately wanted out of the deal, but they won’t face up to the consequences of leaving. They think they can break the rules whenever they like and they think they don’t have to pay a price for that

The funny thing is that this doomed attempt to abuse the snapback provision will guarantee that it will almost certainly never be used in future agreements

Whenever one of the other permanent members wants to avoid using a provision like this, all they have to do is remind the U.S. of this episode and say, “We don’t trust you not to do that again.”