President Obama admitted in an interview Tuesday that any nuclear deal worked out between his administration and Iran won’t prevent the Iranians from developing a nuclear weapon once it expires.
In the interview with NPR, Obama said it’s his hope that Iran will have changed by then. But the president defended the framework hammered out last week in negotiations in Lausanne, Switzerland, as the best way of keeping Iran in check if it doesn’t change.
“Currently, the breakout times are only about two to three months by our intelligence estimates. So essentially, we’re purchasing for 13, 14, 15 years assurances that the breakout is at least a year … that — that if they decided to break the deal, kick out all the inspectors, break the seals and go for a bomb, we’d have over a year to respond. And we have those assurances for at least well over a decade,” Obama said.
“And then in years 13 and 14, it is possible that those breakout times would have been much shorter, but at that point we have much better ideas about what it is that their program involves. We have much more insight into their capabilities. And the option of a future president to take action if in fact they try to obtain a nuclear weapon is undiminished.”
The understanding worked out between Iran and negotiators from the P5+1 countries — the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — calls for limits on Iran’s ability to enrich and stockpile uranium, as well as on its nuclear research, for at least 10 years and in some cases 15.
It also would subject Iran to strict inspection and verification measures aimed at preventing cheating, in the hopes of keeping Tehran at least a year away from developing a nuclear weapon if it decides to “break out” of the deal.
But all these issues have yet to be nailed down in a formal agreement, and many remain in dispute.
For example, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told parliament on Tuesday that his country would not permit the International Atomic Energy Agency to install cameras at Iranian nuclear sites.
Remote cameras are an important means for the IAEA to monitor compliance with international safeguards, and have been used in Iraq and North Korea, as well as previously in Iran.
