Iran threatened Sunday to walk away from the United Nations agreement limiting its nuclear program unless a UN report investigating whether or not the country tried to weaponize its nuclear program in the past is spiked. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) must release, no later than Dec. 15, a report exploring the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program. The head of the IAEA said last week that the investigation — dubbed the PDM file — will not be a “black and white assessment,” but it’s still too uncomfortable for Iran. It’s a big deal, as some countries like France will use the report to decide whether or not to lift economic sanctions against Iran as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. And while the report has always been part of the plan, Iran is back at the negotiation table, trying to keep its nuclear history in the dark. “Without the closure of the file regarding past issues, there is no possibility of implementing the JCPOA,” said Admiral Ali Shamkhani, a top Iranian security official Sunday. “The P5+1 must choose between the JCPOA and leaving open the so-called PMD file.”

You can expect the Obama administration to scurry back to the negotiation table, trying to ensure peace at any cost with a deal Iran never signed. But it would be better if the U.S. let the deal fall apart. As President Ronald Reagan said in his “A Time for Choosing” speech during the Cold War, “Every lesson of history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face — that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender. If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand — the ultimatum.”