Is the Iran nuclear deal really about the U.S.-China rivalry?

The agreement is as much about averting economic catastrophe as it is about curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions

John Kerry, Barack Obama
(Image credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

The Iran nuclear deal may not be as much about Iran as it is about China. Really.

President Obama himself gave us the first clue in his big address on the virtues of the agreement, which curbs Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for the loosening of sanctions. The other world powers were already ready to walk away from the tight sanctions regime we had imposed on Iran. If America didn't reach a deal, and tried to maintain unilateral sanctions on our own, Obama said, "we'd have to cut off countries like China from the American financial system. And since they happen to be major purchasers of our debt, such actions could trigger severe disruptions in our own economy, and, by the way, raise questions internationally about the dollar's role as the world's reserve currency."

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James Poulos

James Poulos is a contributing editor at National Affairs and the author of The Art of Being Free, out January 17 from St. Martin's Press. He has written on freedom and the politics of the future for publications ranging from The Federalist to Foreign Policy and from Good to Vice. He fronts the band Night Years in Los Angeles, where he lives with his son.