President Obama said Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned speech to Congress is not “permanently destructive” to relations with the U.S. but said Israel should accept the administration’s position in nuclear talks with Iran to achieve a verifiable 10-year freeze on nuclear activity.
In an interview with Reuters at the White House, Mr. Obama said the rift over Mr. Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on Tuesday was a distraction and there was “substantial disagreement” between his administration and the Israeli government over how to achieve their shared goal of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“If, in fact, Iran is willing to agree to double-digit years of keeping their program where it is right now and, in fact, rolling back elements of it that currently exist … if we’ve got that, and we’ve got a way of verifying that, there’s no other steps we can take that would give us such assurance that they don’t have a nuclear weapon,” Mr. Obama said.
Earlier Monday, Mr. Netanyahu said in Washington that his government is concerned Mr. Obama’s diplomacy, facing a deadline in late March, will still allow Iran to develop an atomic bomb.
In a speech on Monday to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Mr. Netanyahu warned that a nuclear deal could threaten Israel’s survival, but he said the U.S.-Israeli relationship was “stronger than ever.”
Although his relationship with Mr. Netanyahu is worsening, Mr. Obama said, “This is not a personal issue.” But he added that he believes the Israeli leader has been wrong before in 2013 in his opposition to a nuclear deal with Iran.
“Netanyahu made all sorts of claims. This was going to be a terrible deal. This was going to result in Iran getting 50 billion dollars worth of relief. Iran would not abide by the agreement. None of that has come true,” Mr. Obama said. “It has turned out that in fact, during this period we’ve seen Iran not advance its program. In many ways, it’s rolled back elements of its program.”
via NorthEast Calling http://ift.tt/1zBEekz
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