President Obama said in an interview published Saturday that Iran has so far not conceded enough in multi-lateral negotiations over its nuclear program for the U.S. to reach a final deal with the country by summer.
“What is going to have an effect on whether we get a deal done is, number one, is Iran prepared to show, to prove to the world that it is not developing a nuclear weapon, and can we verify that in an intrusive, consistent way,” Obama told The Huffington Post.
{mosads}”And frankly, they have not yet made the kind of concessions that are I think going to be needed for a final deal to get done. But they have moved, and so there’s the possibility,” Obama added.
The remarks came as Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday that negotiators had made “genuine progress” toward a deal with Iran, even as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, voiced mistrust.
Obama acknowledged in the Huffington Post interview that his administration would need to prove that it could ensure Iran would not obtain a nuclear weapon and it had limited the timeframe for Iran to potentially develop one.
“That’s an argument that we are going to have to make, if we have a deal. But we’ve still got some more to do,” Obama said.
Obama said it was “premature” to read into reports that there is a draft deal over Iran’s nuclear program already being circulated, though he mentioned “movement from the Iranian side.”
Escalated tensions over the Obama administration’s push to secure a preliminary deal by the end of the month were underscored this week with the reelection of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu, who trailed in polls heading into Tuesday’s election, placed a potentially unsatisfactory deal over Iran’s nuclear program as a centerpiece of his reelection campaign, complete with an address before Congress.
Obama sought to play down the significance of Netanyahu’s reelection, saying that he doesn’t think “it will have a significant impact” on selling a potential Iranian deal to the public or Congress.
“Obviously there’s significant skepticism in Israel generally about Iran. And understandably – Iran has made vile comments, anti-Semitic comments, comments about the destruction of Israel,” Obama said.