Obama: sending a “very clear message to the Iranians”

AFP/New York

US President Barack Obama has said that a weakened Israel would be a “fundamental failure of my presidency”, affirming solidarity with the long-time ally despite recent differences over the Iran nuclear deal. 
Obama said while Israel has reason to be concerned about Iran, he defended the framework agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme that negotiators drew up last week.
Obama made the comments to The New York Times in a 45-minute video interview on Saturday that was posted on Sunday.
“I would consider it a failure on my part, a fundamental failure of my presidency, if on my watch or as a consequence of work that I’ve done, Israel was rendered more vulnerable,” Obama said.  
He said he would consider it “not just a strategic failure, I think that would a moral failure,” adding that no disagreements between Israel and the United States can break their bond.  
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly denounced the agreement between Tehran and world powers as a bad deal, arguing it will leave Iran with a large nuclear infrastructure.
The two leaders have also clashed over the Middle East peace process, with Israel opposing the creation of a Palestinian state, while the White House is seeking a “two state” solution to the conflict.  
“Even in the midst of the disagreements that I have had with Prime Minister Netanyahu both on Iran as well as on the Palestinian issue, I have been consistent saying that our defence of Israel is unshakable,” Obama said.  
The US president also defended the Iran nuclear deal, which paves the way for Tehran to curtail its nuclear activity in exchange for relief from punishing economic sanctions.
“There is no formula, there is no option, to prevent Iran from getting a new weapon that will be more effective than the diplomatic initiative and framework that we put forward, and that’s demonstrable,” he told the newspaper.  
But Obama said Israel was “right to be concerned” about Iran, and sent a strong message to enemies of Israel.  
“What we will be doing as we enter into this deal is sending a very clear message to the Iranians and to the entire region that if anyone messes with Israel, America will be there,” he said.  
On the Iranian negotiations, Obama said that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is “a pretty tough read” and “deeply suspicious of the West”.
But Obama added: “He does realise that the sanctions regime we put together was weakening Iran over the long term, and that if in fact he wanted to see Iran enter into the community of nations, there would have to be changes.”
Washington made clear yesterday that it would only agree to sanctions on Iran being phased out gradually as Tehran complies with a final deal to curb its nuclear programme.
“You can’t start talking about relieving sanctions until we’ve reached agreements about how we’re going to shut down every pathway they have to a nuclear weapon,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a news briefing.
“It has never been our position that all of the sanctions against Iran should be removed from Day One,” he said.
The White House is working aggressively to convince US lawmakers and other critics to embrace the framework agreement reached on Thursday between Iran, the United States and five other major powers.
The framework was a major step toward a final deal but did not include an agreement on the timing and scope of sanctions relief. Many other issues also must be hammered out before the end-of-June deadline for a final accord.
Iran’s top negotiators have interpreted the outline differently, saying sanctions relief would not occur in phases but would be lifted immediately once a nuclear accord is signed.
Earnest said Washington would want to see sustained compliance by Iran as it begins to lift sanctions.
He said Iran would be more likely to comply if its leaders knew economic sanctions would be reapplied if they violated the agreement. The United States could foresee a point at which sanctions could be dismantled, but only after “sustained compliance over a long period of time”, Earnest said.