President Barack Obama on Wednesday defended the nuclear deal that he and five other world powers negotiated with Iran, telling a gathering of the press corp at the White House that it "our best means of assuring that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon."
“The bottom line is this. This nuclear deal meets the national security interests of the United States and our allies," Obama said. "It prevents the most serious threat of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon… that’s why this deal makes our country safer and secure.”
"We have a historic chance to secure a safer and more secure world, an opportunity that may not come again in our lifetimes," Obama added.
Obama argued the alternative -- the risk of a regional nuclear arms race -- would endanger national security.
Under the deal that was finalized in Vienna on Tuesday, Iran promises to cap and downsize its controversial nuclear program in exchange for sweeping economic sanctions relief. Once the deal is implemented, Iran will have disposed of much of its stockpile of uranium and slashed the number of centrifuges it spins. It will also be bound to inspections by the UN and subject to the reimposition of sanctions if it is discovered that it has reneged on its commitments.
While the Iran deal is now finalized, it still faces challenges, though perhaps not existential ones.
The deal will get a vote of approval or disapproval in Congress. And though the president can veto whatever lawmakers decide, and though it is likely that he will have enough votes to sustain that veto, it still would be a rebuke for the legislative branch to reject his main diplomatic achievement.
“Based on the facts, the majority of Congress should approve this deal,” Obama said, when asked about that possibility.
The president said he looked forward to Congressional debate on the deal.
"I expect the debate to be robust, and that's how it should be. This is an important issue," Obama said.
"I hope we don't lose sight of the larger picture -- the opportunity that this agreement represents," Obama added.
Critics of the deal warn that it won't effectively curb Iran's nuclear ambitions and would essentially help the country finance regional terrorism.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the agreement "a historic mistake" immediately after the deal was announced Tuesday. Several Republicans in Congress also expressed disappointment in the deal, including Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who penned a letter in March urging Iranian leaders to not work with Obama on a deal.
Obama said none of his critics have presented their own ideas about how to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
"None of them have presented to me or the American people a better alternative," he said.
Obama also addressed concerns that over the course of five and eight years, the embargo on arms and ballistic missile shipments to Iran would go away. He didn’t attempt to downplay those concerns, saying he shared them and noting that it could prompt additional conflict and chaos in the region. But he also noted that there were additional United Nation’s mechanisms to keep Iran in check on this front and framed it as a victory that negotiators were able to get those embargoes extended as far as they did.
Obama also acknowledged the points that some of his critics have made about remaining concerns about Iran’s behavior. But he argued the goal of the deal wasn’t to deal with those issues, but rather to stop the country’s development of a nuclear bomb.
“Iran still poses challenges to our interests and our values both in the region and around the world,” Obama said. “So I can say with confidence, but more importantly nuclear experts can say with confidence, that Iran will not be in a position to develop a nuclear bomb. We will have met our number one priority. Now we'll still have problems with Iran's sponsorship of terrorism, its funding of proxies like Hezbollah that threaten Israel and the region… and my hope is that building on this deal, we can continue to have conversations with Iran that incentivizes them to behave differently in the region, to be less aggressive, less hostile, more cooperative, to operate the way we expect nations of the international community to behave.”
For more on the Iran nuclear deal, see more at The Huffington Post.
