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The American and Soviet officials who drafted the NPT half a century ago lured other countries to sign not only by allowing them to harness nuclear energy but by assisting them to do so; the treaty guaranteed them the necessary technology, as part of a program called “Atoms for Peace.”

This has always been a loophole in the NPT.

Besides, an annex to the NPT—which Iran had also signed—allowed international inspectors to verify compliance with the treaty’s limits.

On this issue, Trump said it’s fine if Iran uses uranium for electrical power as long as it doesn’t use it to build nuclear weapons—ignoring, or perhaps not knowing, that the NPT and the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal allowed precisely this distinction.

The NPT lets countries use non-military nuclear technology - such as for medicine, agriculture and energy - but does not permit the development of nuclear weapons.