President Obama Says Deal Should Let Iran Save Face on Sanctions
Image by getty images
President Barack Obama said a solution on sanctions would have to allow Iran’s leaders to present an “acceptable” version to their public.
Obama was asked at a news conference Friday what his position was on phasing out sanctions as part of a nuclear deal with Iran that would exchange sanctions relief for restrictions aimed at keeping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
“How sanctions are lessened, how we snap back sanctions if there’s a violation, there are a lot of different mechanisms and ways to do that,” he said.
He then referred to the negotiators, including Secretary of State John Kerry and the P5+1, the acronym for the major powers in talks with Iran.
“Part of John’s job and part of the Iranian negotiators’ job, and part of the P5+1’s job is to sometimes find formulas that get to our main concerns while allowing the other side to make a presentation to their body politic that is more acceptable,” he said.
Obama also said he was likely to sign legislation that would mandate a congressional review of any Iran deal.
Sponsors of the bill stripped out of it language that the Obama administration opposed before it was approved unanimously on April 14 by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Among the stipulations in earlier versions opposed by the White House were measures that sought to shape the deal, including demands that Iran end its backing for terrorism. The White House said such provisions were a poison pill and asked for a bill that would require congressional approval and nothing else. A deal is due by June 30.
Obama praised the leaders of the committee – chairman Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and top Democrat Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) – for their work, and suggested that if the bill did not undergo any major changes throughout the legislative process, he would not veto it.
“Both Senator Corker and Senator Cardin, at least in my understanding, agreed that there is not going to be a whole bunch of poison pills or additional provisions or amendments added to it, and that they will be protective of this being a straightforward, fair process for Congress to be able to evaluate any deal that we may come up with, and then register its views, but that it’s not going to be tilted in the direction of trying to kill the deal,” he said.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
