Iran was violating the nuclear deal before the deal existed, White House confusingly claims

There's something up with the timeline in the White House's recent press release.

The United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency announced Monday that Iran had exceeded the cap on enriched uranium set under a 2015 international nuclear deal. The Trump White House later issued a statement condemning the move — though it mostly just played with the concept of time to insult the nuclear deal in its entirety.

President Trump has long been an opponent of the Iran nuclear deal because, as the White House said in its Monday statement, "it was a mistake ... to allow Iran to enrich uranium at any level." Then things got a little funky, with the statement reading "there is little doubt that even before the deal's existence, Iran was violating its terms." Of course, before there was a deal, there were no terms to violate.

strange wording in this new White House statement on Iran. "There is little doubt that even before the deal’s existence, Iran was violating its terms." pic.twitter.com/6b8Wizod2p

— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) July 1, 2019

Trump spent his 2016 campaign pledging to pull the U.S. out of the international deal that reduces sanctions on Iran if it remains under certain nuclear enrichment thresholds. Trump removed the U.S. from the deal last year, and Iran has spent the past several months hinting that it would exceed the limits.