"They think he (Donald Trump) is going to be defeated," Sen. Inhofe told reporters in his office Tuesday, The Hill reported.
"The Iranians are waiting to re-establish the deal that (former Secretary of State) John Kerry made, and they're all assuming that he'll be out of office."
To make the withdrawal of the deal permanent, Inhofe, the Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, said Trump's actions will be codified in this year's National Defense Authorization Act.
In May 2018, the US president pulled his country out of the JCPOA, the nuclear deal that was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Trump on August 6 signed an executive order re-imposing many sanctions on Iran, three months after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.
He said the US policy is to levy “maximum economic pressure” on the country.
The second batch of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic took effect on November 4.
Following the US exit, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.
The European Union has vowed to counter Trump’s renewed sanctions on Iran, including by means of a new law to shield European companies from punitive measures.