WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama defended the U.S.-led international nuclear deal with Iran on Wednesday against a furious lobbying effort by political opponents and Israel and said abandoning the agreement would open up the prospect of war.
Invoking the Cold War peacemaking initiatives of former Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, Obama said if Congress blocked the deal, it would accelerate Tehran’s path to a bomb and severely damage America’s credibility.
Obama said “alternatives to military actions will have been exhausted once we reject a hard-won diplomatic solution that the world almost unanimously supports.”
He added: “Let’s not mince words. The choice we face is ultimately between diplomacy or some form of war. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not three months from now, but soon.”
Obama’s speech was part of a push to promote the July 14 agreement between Iran and six world powers that was put together over 18 months of negotiations.
The White House has pressured members of Congress to support the deal as they return home for an August recess. To counter a major Republican-led opposition effort that has spent millions in TV ads, Obama asked the audience to contact their representatives and ask them to support the pact.
Sen. Angus King, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, announced his support Wednesday for the nuclear agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program.
“There is no certainty when it comes to this question,” the Maine independent said. “There are risks in either direction, and credible arguments can be made on both sides. But in the end, I have concluded that the terms of this agreement are preferable to the alternatives and that it would be in the best interest of the United States to join our partners in approving it.
“I will remain deeply engaged in this issue in the weeks and months ahead because this process does not end today. If this deal moves forward, it will fall to future Presidents and future Congresses to oversee it and make it work. We owe the American people our best judgment, and it is my belief that this agreement, if implemented effectively and in conjunction with the other measures we must take to strengthen its implementation, will serve our nation, the region, and the world.”
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, did not issue a statement Wednesday on Obama’s speech, but she has voiced strong concerns about the decision to lift the conventional arms embargo against Iran over a five- to eight-year period. When the agreement was first announced Collins said “a verifiable diplomatic agreement that prevents Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and dismantles its nuclear infrastructure is the desired outcome; however, it is far from clear that this agreement will accomplish those goals.”
Opponents of the agreement in the United States, led by Republicans, say it does not go far enough to ensure that Iran will never be able to develop a nuclear weapon and argue that lifting sanctions on Iran will only empower it to do so.
Some of Democrat Obama’s fiercest critics in Congress quickly dismissed the president’s argument.
“Instead of dismantling Iran’s nuclear program, this agreement would lock it in place,” Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, senior Republicans on the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.
Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said lawmakers left a meeting with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s chief meant to allay concerns about the deal more worried than when they went in.
“It was not a reassuring meeting,” Corker said after the meeting with IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano. The IAEA would undertake much of the monitoring and verification work.
War is not inevitable
Obama spoke at American University in Washington, where Kennedy made the case in 1963 for a nuclear weapons test ban treaty with the Soviet Union. He cited Kennedy, a Democrat, and Republican Reagan in making his case for diplomacy.
“The agreement now reached between the international community and the Islamic Republic of Iran builds on this tradition of strong, principled diplomacy,” he said.
If lawmakers kill the deal, Obama said, it would damage America’s credibility as a leader of diplomacy.
The Republican-led Congress has until Sept. 17 to approve or disapprove of the accord. Obama has said he would veto a resolution of disapproval and is seeking enough votes to prevent an override.
The agreement, involving the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany and Iran following unprecedented international sanctions was “the strongest nonproliferation agreement ever negotiated,” Obama said.
He acknowledged his administration’s split with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Iran deal, which he considers in the best interest of both countries.
“I do not doubt his sincerity, but I believe he is wrong,” Obama said.
Presenting himself as having done more than any other president to strengthen Israel’s security, he said the United States would continue to help Israel keep its military edge.
“As president of the United States it would be an abrogation of my constitutional duty to act against my best judgment simply because it causes temporary friction with a dear friend and ally,” he said.
House Speaker John Boehner later Wednesday emailed a video link of Netanyahu’s March address to Congress on Iran. Boehner said it was a powerful reminder “that the alternative to President Obama’s bad deal with Iran is not war. The alternative is a better deal.”
Obama, in his speech, mocked that recurring critique.
“That is repeated over and over again. ‘It’s a bad deal — we need a better deal,’” he said. “Walk away from this agreement, and you will get a better deal — for Iran.”