President Obama said Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered “nothing new” in his objections to a potential U.S. nuclear deal with Iran.
On the core issue of preventing Iran from building nuclear weapons, Mr. Obama said, “the prime minister didn’t offer any viable alternatives.”
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, the president made a point of saying that he had not watched Mr. Netanyahu’s address to Congress, but read a transcript of it later.
“As far as I can tell, there was nothing new,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Netanyahu warned lawmakers that the reported framework of a potential agreement with Iran is unacceptable because it wouldn’t dismantle Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure. He said such a deal would allow Iran to quickly restart its capability to build a nuclear bomb.
“This deal is so bad. It doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb, it paves Iran’s path to the bomb,” Mr. Netanyahu said.
Mr. Obama said he and his team are “staying focused on the central issue” of preventing Iran from building a bomb.
“I’m not focused on the politics of it,” the president said.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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