US President Barack Obama said on Monday that the time had come for Tehran to decide whether it wants to accept a nuclear deal. Obama acknowledged “very real differences” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the negotiations.
Obama warned Tehran that he saw no reason to further extend negotiations for a basic agreement next month. “We're at a point where they need to make a decision,” Obama said. He said the only question remaining was if Iran had the political will and the desire to get a deal done. He said the extended negotiations with Iran had been time “well spent.”
"The [nuclear] program has not only been frozen, but with respect to, for example, 20 percent enriched uranium, they've reversed it, and so we're in a better position than we were before the interim program was set up,” Obama said.
In a campaign speech, Netanyahu criticized the international negotiations with Iran and portrayed his scheduled address to the US Congress next month as an attempt to describe Israel's objections. “A bad deal with Iran is forming in Munich that will endanger Israel's existence,” Netanyahu said, referring to talks at the weekend in Germany between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart. “Therefore, I am determined to go to Washington and present Israel's position before the members of Congress and the American people.”
Obama said the world powers negotiating with Iran were united in their offer, while acknowledging the forceful opposition from Netanyahu. “I don't want to be coy - the prime minister and I have a very real difference around Iran's sanctions,” the US president said at a White House news conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.
He defended his decision not to meet with Netanyahu while he's in Washington at the invitation of Republican House Speaker John Boehner. Obama cited the precedence for US presidents not to meet with foreign leaders who are facing an upcoming election, to avoid the perception of trying to influence the outcome. “As much as I love Angela, if she was two weeks away from an election, she probably would not have received an invitation to the White House, and I suspect she wouldn't have asked for one,” Obama said to a smile from Merkel, although she did not weigh in with her own perspective.
