President Trump has repeatedly signaled his intention to declare Iran in violation of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal.

The problem is that Iran is in fact complying with its obligations under the deal, which significantly rolled back Iran’s nuclear program, imposed strict limits on what remained, and subjected Iran to the most intrusive inspections regime in the world.

The alternative policy options outside the JCPOA are unappealing. In a new Cato Policy Analysis, Emma Ashford and John Glaser assess the costs of four alternatives – sanctions, challenging Iranian influence in the Middle East, supporting internal groups to foment regime change, and military action – and conclude they all carry unacceptably high risks and threaten to exacerbate the very behavior Iran hawks hope to forestall.