On April 1, President Barack Obama said that the nuclear deal has “achieved a substantial success” during a meeting with leaders from the world’s six major powers on the sidelines of the 4th Nuclear Security Summit. But Obama also claimed in remarks to the press that Iran has undermined the "spirit" of the agreement by engaging in "provocative actions" such as ballistic missile tests. Leaders from more than 50 countries convened in Washington, DC on March 31 and April 1 for the summit, where they discussed measures to secure nuclear materials and prevent nuclear terrorism.The following are Obama’s comments on Iran during the summit.
.@POTUS spoke at the opening of the P5+1 meeting at #NSS2016, discussed @TheIranDeal.#IranDeal https://t.co/atm2us7ev3
— Department of State (@StateDept) April 1, 2016
It is a pleasure to be here with our P5+1 partners, the European Union, and Director General Amano of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Because of the nations that are represented here today, we achieved a historic deal to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. And today is an opportunity to review progress as that deal continues to be implemented.
Our work together is a key part of the comprehensive agenda that I outlined in Prague seven years ago -- stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and seeking the long-term vision of a world without them. That included strengthening the global regime that prevents the spread of nuclear weapons. And one of the greatest tests of that regime was Iran’s nuclear program. After nearly two years of intensive negotiations, backed by strong sanctions, the countries represented in this room achieved what decades of animosity and rhetoric did not -- a long-term deal that closes off every possible path to building a nuclear weapon, and subjects Iran to the most comprehensive nuclear inspections ever negotiated.
And thanks to this deal, we have seen real progress. Already, Iran has dismantled two-thirds of its installed centrifuges. Iran has shipped 98 percent of its enriched uranium stockpile out of Iran. Iran has removed the Arak reactor core and filled it with concrete. If Iran were to cheat, the breakout time to build a nuclear weapon has gone from two to three months to about a year.
In January, the IAEA verified that Iran had fulfilled key commitments of the deal. And today, Director General Amano will update us on implementation. Our nations have lifted nuclear-related sanctions and it will take time for Iran to reintegrate into the global economy, but Iran is already beginning to see the benefits of this deal.
I think it's important to note that this deal does not resolve all of our differences with Iran, including destabilizing activities in the region. Except for limited exceptions, the U.S. trade embargo on Iran remains in place. And we also continue to vigorously enforce sanctions pertaining to Iran’s support for terrorism, human rights abuses, and ballistic missile programs. That's U.S. policy. But what this group -- that doesn’t agree on all aspects of policy -- does agree on is that this deal has achieved a substantial success, and focused on the dangers of nuclear proliferation in an effective way.
The road to this deal was not easy. It took commitment, diplomacy, hard work. It took the leaders and countries gathered around this table coming together and working out our own differences in approach. Full and continued implementation is going to take the same kind of cooperation and consultation. But I am extremely grateful to our partners in this effort.
Even as we continue to face nuclear threats around the world -- which is the topic of this summit -- this deal does remind us that when the international community stands as one, we can advance our common security.
So I want to thank all the leaders who are gathered here, the countries who are participating, Director General Amano. This is a success of diplomacy that hopefully we'll be able to copy in the future.
– April 1, 2016, at a meeting with P5+1 leaders
We’ve succeeded in uniting the international community against the spread of nuclear weapons, notably in Iran. A nuclear-armed Iran would have constituted an unacceptable threat to our national security and that of our allies and partners. It could have triggered a nuclear arms race in the Middle East and begun to unravel the global nonproliferation regime.
After Iran initially rejected a diplomatic solution, the United States mobilized the international community to impose sanctions on Iran, demonstrating that nations that fail to meet their nuclear obligations will face consequences. After intense negotiations, Iran agreed to a nuclear deal that closes every single one of its paths to a nuclear weapon, and Iran is now being subjected to the most comprehensive inspection regimen ever negotiated to monitor a nuclear program. In other words, under this deal, the world has prevented yet another nation from getting a nuclear bomb. And we’ll remain vigilant to ensure that Iran fulfills its commitments.
– March 30, 2016, in a Washington Post op-ed
"They [Iran] have, in fact, based on the presentations that were made by the IAEA this morning to the P5+1, have, in fact, followed the implementation steps that were laid out. And as a consequence, sanctions related to their nuclear program have been brought down. Part of the challenge that they face is that companies haven’t been doing business there for a long time, and they need to get comfortable with the prospects of this deal holding.
"One of the things that Secretary Lew and his counterparts within the P5+1 and elsewhere are going to be doing is providing clarity to businesses about what transactions are, in fact, allowed. And it’s going to take time over the next several months for companies and their legal departments to feel confident that, in fact, there may not be risks of liability if they do business with Iran.
"And so some of the concerns that Iran has expressed we are going to work with them to address. It is not necessary that we take the approach of them going through dollar-denominated transactions. It is possible for them to work through European financial institutions, as well. But there is going to need to be continued clarification provided to businesses in order to -- for deal flows to begin.
"Now, what I would say is also important is Iran’s own behavior in generating confidence that Iran is a safe place to do business. In a deal like this, my first priority, my first concern was making sure that we got their nuclear program stopped, and material that they already had that would give them a very short breakout capacity, that that was shipped out. That has happened. And I always said that I could not promise that Iran would take advantage of this opportunity and this window to reenter the international community.
"Iran, so far, has followed the letter of the agreement. But the spirit of the agreement involves Iran also sending signals to the world community and businesses that it is not going to be engaging in a range of provocative actions that might scare business off. When they launched ballistic missiles with slogans calling for the destruction of Israel that makes businesses nervous. There is some geopolitical risk that is heightened when they see that taking place.
"If Iran continues to ship missiles to Hezbollah, that gets businesses nervous. And so part of what I hope happens is we have a responsibility to provide clarity about the rules that govern so that Iran can, in fact, benefit, the Iranian people can benefit from an improved economic situation. But Iran has to understand what every country in the world understands, which is businesses want to go where they feel safe, where they don't see massive controversy, where they can be confident that transactions are going to operate normally. And that's an adjustment that Iran is going to have to make as well.
"And, frankly, within Iran, I suspect there are different views. In the same way that there are hardliners here in the United States who, even after we certify that this deal is working, even after our intelligence teams, Israeli intelligence teams say this has been a game-changer, are still opposed to the deal on principle, there are hardliners inside of Iran who don't want to see Iran open itself up to the broader world community and are doing things to potentially undermine the deal.
"And so those forces that seek the benefits of the deal not just in narrow terms but more broadly, we want to make sure that, over time, they're in a position to realize those benefits."
– April 1, 2016, in remarks to the press following the Nuclear Security Summit