Mattis: "Yes, senator, I do."

JCPOA stands for Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, colloquially known as the Iran nuclear deal.

The man responsible for ensuring our military's readiness to defend the country just made clear that he believes one way to accomplish the goal is to keep the Iran deal in place.

Not to quibble, but the deal binds Iran to a permanent commitment never to pursue nuclear weapons. It's true that certain restrictions begin to ease after a period of time. But the inspection regime lasts forever. If Iran ever tried to cheat, we'd know about it and all the nuclear-related sanctions that were lifted could be snapped right back in place.

It's hard to see how in the wake of all this -- from his top military leaders, no less -- President Trump could pull out of the deal, much less refuse to certify next week that Iran remains in compliance, right?

Not so fast.

That's basically a "bake-your-cake-and-eat-it-too" scenario that will no doubt make the President feel good but stop well short of terminating the actual deal.

He no doubt believes he must do something. But that something should be nothing.

Assuming it will do so again in the near future, Mr. Trump's decision to decertify Iran on his own would fly in the face of the IAEA's considered, scientific and professional assessment - not that he has shown much care in the past for the views of other international bodies. As we've seen, it would also contradict the opinions of his own generals.

But, there's a political base to please and a predecessor's legacy to tear down and so much blustery rhetoric to live up to. So soon, perhaps even today, we will learn what the administration has in mind.

Whatever that is, one must hope Mr. Trump also bears in mind these things:

1) No problem in the Middle East gets easier with a nuclear-armed Iran. The deal is doing exactly what it was designed to do. There are plenty of ways to address Iran's other "misconduct," as Secretary Mattis calls it.

2) The hardliners in Tehran would love to see nothing more than the deal ripped up. So, finding a way to damage it hands the mullahs a nice little victory.

3) It was nuclear-related sanctions that brought Iran to the negotiating table. If we snap them back unilaterally and without cause, we, the United States -- not Iran -- would be in noncompliance and on the outside of international convention.

And we -- not Iran -- would be the ones sending a clear message that we are neither a credible nor trustworthy negotiating partner.

As Gen. Hyten put it: "Everybody's watching us wherever we are, and everything we do down to the smallest tactical level in today's world delivers a strategic message to not just the United States and our citizens, but our allies and our adversaries."

It's time to send the right strategic message. It's time to stop arguing over the Iran deal. It's time for Mr. Trump to listen to his generals.