Obama Considers Iran Deal 'Important 1st Step' as Kerry Says it Makes Israel 'Safer'
U.S. President Barack Obama hailed an historic interim deal with Iran Saturday as "an important first step" towards a comprehensive accord to end the dangerous showdown over Teheran's nuclear program short of war.
Obama, speaking at the White House after the deal was clinched between the P5+1 world powers and Iran in Geneva, said the agreement had for the first time in a decade halted progress on Iran's nuclear program.
But the president also warned that if Iran did not live up to the terms of the deal, the nearly $7 billion in sanctions relief it permits, would be ratched back up and pressure increased.
He also said that he understood that Israel and U.S. allies in the Gulf would be skeptical about the agreement, following their vehement complaints as the negotiations took place.
"Today, the United States -- together with our close allies and partners - took an important first step toward a comprehensive solution that addresses our concerns with the Islamic Republic of Iran's nuclear program," Obama said in the State Dining Room of the White House.
"While today's announcement is just a first step, it achieves a great deal.
"For the first time in nearly a decade, we have halted the progress of the Iranian nuclear program, and key parts of the program will be rolled back."
Senior U.S. officials said the deal did not "recognize" Iran's right to enrich uranium, and committed Tehran to take a number of steps to halt progress on its nuclear program.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the deal will help "make Israel safer,” heading off criticism by the Jewish state of a thaw with Tehran.
"The comprehensive agreement will make the world safer ... and Israel safer," Kerry told reporters.
Ahead of the deal, Israel had issued repeated broadsides, warning that any easing of sanctions against Iran could enable it to acquire atomic weapons.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- whose country is widely assumed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed nation -- has refused to rule out military action against its arch rival.
Kerry said Netanyahu -- "a friend of mine" -- had been kept abreast of the state of play in the talks, which kicked off Wednesday.
"I talk to him several times a week," he said. "I talked to him in the last day about this very issue."
Any differences between the United States and Israel on the issue were simply a matter of "judgment" and "calculation,” Kerry insisted.
"There is no difference whatsoever between the U.S. and Israel of what the end goal is -- that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon," he added.
Iran insists that its nuclear program is peaceful, and rejects Western claims that its uranium enrichment shows it is on a thinly-disguised quest for atomic weapons.
Throwing the ball into Tehran's court, Kerry said it should be a simple matter for Iran to prove its critics wrong.
"It ought to be really easy to do the things that other nations do that enrich," he said. "To prove it."
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/107073 |