Obama: US willing to 'walk away' from Iran talks if sides can't make right deal

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/08/barack-obama-iran-nuclear-talks-deal

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Barack Obama said on Sunday the US would “walk away” from nuclear talks with Iran if there was no acceptable deal.

Obama said any agreement must allow western powers to verify that Tehran was not going to obtain an atomic weapon, and that even if Iran “cheated”, the US and others would have “enough time to take action”.

The president told CBS: “If we don’t have that kind of deal, then we’re not going to take it.”

Defending the talks, which have faced withering criticism from Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Obama said: “Iran has abided by the terms of the agreement. We know what’s happening on the ground in Iran ... We’ve been able to roll back their 20% highly enriched uranium during this period” of negotiations.

But big gaps remain to bridge if the sides are to reach a deal by the end of March deadline set by negotiators. “We have made progress in narrowing the gaps, but those gaps still exist,” Obama said.

Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful and exists only to produce energy for civilian use. The next round of talks is set to begin on 15 March.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said on Sunday that Congress should have a chance to review and vote on any deal, but he acknowledged that he did not have the support yet to override a threatened veto by Obama.

“I’m hoping we can get 67 senators to assert the historic role of the Senate and the Congress in looking at matters of this magnitude,” he said, also on CBS, citing the number of senators needed to override a presidential veto.

“Obviously, the president doesn’t want us involved in this. But he’s going to need us if he’s going to lift any of the existing sanctions. And so I think he cannot work around Congress forever.”