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The Trump administration is poised to renew waivers that allow Iran to receive international assistance for civilian nuclear projects, after a heated internal debate over whether to dismantle a key element of the 2015 nuclear deal, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

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The waivers for five nuclear sites in Iran are due to expire on Thursday.

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In what would be a setback for Iran hawks, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other administration officials appeared to prevail in the policy argument against national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

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Proponents of keeping the waivers warned that removing them could force the United States to impose sanctions on Russian, Chinese and European firms assisting with nuclear work in Iran permitted by the nuclear accord, according to a U.S. official and a source familiar with the discussions.

The Treasury Department appealed for more time to work out the possible consequences if that scenario played out, the sources said.

  NBC

Once upon a time, there were experts to offer advice.

The underlying argument that has played out at the White House over the past year hinges on whether the United States would have more leverage in any future talks with Iran by totally dismantling the 2015 deal, or whether it is better to preserve the accord as a starting point for negotiations, U.S. officials say.

Trump already pulled us out of the agreement, no?

Proponents of keeping the waivers believe “the best way to position for a new deal, is to keep the old deal around in the meantime,” one source said. “There is an active group within the State Department, Treasury Department and Energy Department that sees value in keeping the rump JCPOA alive.”

Oh. There's a rump JCPOA. That's what they're calling the waivers, apparently. There's also a rump in the White House.

The [waivers] permit Iran to run its sole nuclear power reactor at Bushehr with Russian assistance and a research reactor in Tehran to produce medical isotopes.

The Trump administration in May renewed the civilian nuclear waivers for a 90-day period, after having issued waivers for 180 days previously. The State Department originally justified the waivers as a way of preventing Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons-related work.

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Bolton and officials at the national security council disagree with the rationale for keeping the nuclear waivers, arguing Iran should not be allowed to preserve its nuclear infrastructure with help from the outside world.

They also play down the possibility that the U.S. would have to impose sanctions on Russian, Chinese or European companies engaged with Iran’s nuclear program, sources said. They cite an administration decision in May that barred two forms of international assistance for Iran’s nuclear activities involving Oman and Russia. In both of those cases, the two countries halted their cooperation and there was no need to for Washington to introduce U.S. sanctions.

Iran hawks in Congress, including 50 Republicans in the House and Republican senators Ted Cruz of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Marco Rubio of Florida, had pushed for removing the waivers.

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But Trump appeared to come around to Mnuchin’s view in recent days, much to the frustration of advocates of a tough line on Iran inside and outside the administration.

“There were a hundred ways to cancel these nuclear waivers responsibly," said one U.S. official familiar with how the debate unfolded. “The State and Treasury teams rejected those options because their actual goal is to save the nuclear deal. So now we've got a situation where they've humiliated President Trump this round and set themselves up for a diplomatic crisis in the fall” when the new waivers expire, the official said.

If they've humiliated the president, they'll be getting their walking papers.

Everything running smoothly, as always.