The White House said Monday it was still trying to confirm reports that Iran has conducted another ballistic missile test, but said even if it happened, it doesn’t undermine the nuclear deal Tehran struck with six world powers.
“We’re still trying to get to the bottom of what exactly transpired,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, noting conflicting reports coming out of Tehran about whether a launch actually occurred.
Nevertheless, because the nuclear treaty is in place, “we can now verify that Iran has not obtained a nuclear weapon,” Earnest said. And the international community has “verified that Iran has taken significant steps to actually roll back their nuclear program,” he said.
The administration has faced new criticism about the Iran deal, after Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said the White House created an “echo chamber” to sell the deal, one in which national security “experts” were told to say things that validated the emerging agreement. Still, Earnest underscored that its implementation has played out as the White House envisioned.
The “worse case dire predictions of the deal’s critics did not at all come to pass,” Earnest said. “What did come to pass was exactly what this administration indicated our objectives were” from the start, which was curtailing Tehran’s nuclear program and guaranteeing international inspectors access.
