David Ignatius on U.S. & Iran Tentative Deal: ‘It’s Pretty Thin’

EXCERPT:

IGNATIUS: “It does look very similar to the JCPOA, which Trump scrapped. Some of the provisions may even be somewhat weaker. It's hard to tell because we're just going to begin those negotiations this week and over the next 60 days. But I think in some ways the thing that's most important but seems most unrealistic in this deal is this idea of a broad change in the Middle East, a process where the U.S., over time, if Iran responds positively, begins to pump development money, not just reconstruction, but to build Iranian businesses, and has a vision for Iran becoming over time a country more like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates than like the very closed and really impoverished country it's been. If they can do that, if the Iranians are really prepared to make those changes, that would be a significant move into the future. But right now, in terms of what's actually agreed, actually on paper, it's pretty thin.”