President Obama just spoke at a press conference on the nuclear deal with Iran, and he countered its detractors with his opening statement and answers to press questions.
In his opening statement, he said, “With this deal, we cut off every single one of Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon...without a deal, those pathways remain open.”
He also said, “The bottom line is this: this nuclear deal meets the national security interests of the United States and our allies. It prevents the most serious threat of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon...if we don’t choose wisely, I believe future generations will judge us harshly for letting this opportunity slip away.”
When asked about the issues surrounding Iran, he stated, “This deal is not contingent on Iran changing its behavior, on Iran behaving like a liberal democracy. It solves one problem: Iran getting the nuclear bomb.”
And on addressing his detractors' claims that a better deal could have been negotiated or that all of Iran’s nuclear capacity had to be removed, he declared, “We do not have diplomatic leverage to eliminate every vestige of a peaceful nuclear program in Iran.”
What do you think about the nuclear with between Iran and the P5+1? Should this deal be accepted, or would the security interests of the United States be furthered by scuttling it?
Guests:
Robert Kaufman, a political scientist and professor of public policy at Pepperdine University specializing in American foreign policy, national security, international relations, and various aspects of American politics
Nathan Gonzalez, Middle East analyst with the Foreign Policy in Focus think-tank, and founder of the website NationandState.org, an "open-source foreign policy think tank”