Obama: I Will Convince Congress If a Reliable Agreement with Iran is Reached

Barack Obama, the President of the United States, acknowledging the significant gap in positions between the P5+1 group and Iran in nuclear negotiations, stated: "I am confident that if a verifiable and reliable agreement is reached that ensures Iran does not have breakout capacity (to acquire nuclear weapons), I can convince not only Congress but also the American people that what the (U.S. government) has done is correct." Obama made these remarks in an interview conducted on Friday, November 21, which aired on Sunday, November 23, on ABC News. These comments come just one day before the nuclear deadline between Iran and the six world powers to reach a comprehensive nuclear agreement. In this interview, Obama said: "It is still too early to say whether the parties will reach an agreement by Monday or not." He continued, "The good news is that the interim nuclear agreement has certainly halted Iran's nuclear program development... so this agreement was successful. But now the question is whether we can achieve a more permanent agreement?" Iran and the six world powers reached a six-month interim agreement on November 24 last year, which was extended for another four months in June of this year. The parties are now negotiating in Vienna for a comprehensive nuclear agreement, which is expected to be concluded by Monday, December 3. Some senior officials involved in the P5+1 negotiations, which include the U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China, and Germany, say that there is still a significant gap between their positions and Iran's, and reports have emerged about the potential extension of the interim nuclear agreement again. This report, published on the ABC News website, states that while those who view Iran's nuclear program with skepticism acknowledge that they agree with the U.S. government's negotiations with Iran, many oppose allowing Iran to have any nuclear capacity, even for peaceful purposes. Nevertheless, Barack Obama asserts that the U.S. government's goal is to ensure that Iran does not move toward a nuclear bomb and does not have the capacity to threaten the U.S. and its allies like Israel. The U.S. President stated that "what an agreement can do is remove a large part of the obstacles from the negotiating table and perhaps initiate a long-term process that could change not only the relations between Tehran and Washington but also Iran's relations with the region or the world." Previously, Iranian officials had stated that they wanted the complete lifting of sanctions against Iran, but Obama said that the position on sanctions is "not negotiable." The U.S. President said, "I think Iran would like the sanctions to be lifted immediately, while there are still ways that may not lead to the destination, and therefore we cannot do that." He emphasized that the process of lifting sanctions will be gradual.