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Obama Talks Iran Nuclear Deal; John Kerry Talks Iran Nuclear Deal. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 02, 2015 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:09] BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Even if it violated the deal, for the next decade at least, Iran would be a minimum of a year away from acquiring enough material for a bomb. And the strict limitations on Iran's stockpile will last for 15 years.

Third, this deal provides the best possible defense against Iran's ability to pursue a nuclear weapon covertly, that is in secret. International inspectors will have unprecedented access not only to Iranian nuclear facilities, but to the entire supply chain that supports Iran's nuclear program, from uranium mills that provide the raw materials to the centrifuge production and storage facilities that support the program.

If Iran cheats, the world will know it. If we see something suspicious, we will inspect it. Iran's past efforts to weaponize its program will be addressed.

With this deal, Iran will face more inspections than any other country in the world. So, this will be a long-term deal that addresses each path to a potential Iranian nuclear bomb.

There will be strict limits on Iran's program for a decade. Additional restrictions on building new facilities or stockpiling materials will last for 15 years. The unprecedented transparency measures will last for 20 years or more. Indeed, some will be permanent. And as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran will never be permitted to develop a nuclear weapon.

In return for Iran's actions, the international community has agreed to provide Iran with relief from certain sanctions. Our own sanctions and international sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council. This relief will be phased, as Iran takes steps to adhere to the deal. If Iran violates the deal, sanctions can be snapped back into place.

Meanwhile, other American sanctions on Iran for its support of terrorism, its human rights abuses, its ballistic missile program, will continue to be fully enforced.

Now let me re-emphasize, our work is not yet done. The deal has not been signed. Between now and the end of June, the negotiators will continue to work through the details of how this framework will be fully implemented and those details matter.

If there is backsliding on the part of the Iranians, if the verification and inspection mechanisms don't meet the specifications of our nuclear and security experts, there will be no deal.

But if we can get this done and Iran follows through on the framework that our negotiators agreed to, we will be able to resolve one of the greatest threats to our security and to do so peacefully.

Given the importance of this issue, I have instructed my negotiators to fully brief Congress and the American people on the substance the deal. And I welcome a robust debate in the weeks and months to come.

I am confident that we can show that this deal is good for the security of the United States, for our allies and for the world.

But the fact is we only have three options for addressing Iran's nuclear program. First, we can reach a robust and verifiable deal, like this one, and peacefully prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

OBAMA: The second option is we can bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, thereby starting another war in the Middle East and setting back Iran's program by a few years. In other words, setting it back by a fraction of the time that this deal will set it back. Meanwhile, we'd ensure that Iran would raise their head (ph) to try and build a bomb.

Third, we could pull out of negotiations, try to get other countries to go along and continue sanctions that are currently in place or add additional ones and hope for the best. Knowing that every time we have done so, Iran has not capitulated, but instead has advanced its program. And that in very short order, the breakout timeline would be eliminated and a nuclear arms race in the region could be triggered because of that uncertainty.

In other words, the third option leads us very quickly back to a decision about whether or not to take military action because we'd have no idea what was going on inside of Iran. Iran is not going to simply dismantle its program because we demand it to do so.

That's not how the world works. And that's not what history shows us. Iran has shown no willingness to eliminate those aspects of their program that they maintain are for peaceful purposes, even in the face of unprecedented sanctions.

Should negotiations collapse because we, the United States, rejected what the majority of the world considers a fair deal, what our scientists and nuclear experts suggest would give us confidence that they are not developing a nuclear weapon, it's doubtful that we could even keep our current international sanctions in place.

So when you hear the inevitable critics of the deal sound off, ask them a simple question: Do you really think that this verifiable deal, if fully implemented, backed by the world's major powers, is a worse option than the risk of another war in the Middle East? Is it worse than doing what we've done for almost two decades with Iran moving forward with its nuclear program and without robust inspections?

I think the answer will be clear. Remember, I have always insisted that I will do what is necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and I will.

But I also know that a diplomatic solution is the best way to get this done and offers a more comprehensive and lasting solution. It is our best option by far. And while it is always a possibility that Iran may try to cheat on the deal in the future, this framework of inspections and transparency makes it far more likely that we'll know about it if they try to cheat, and I or future presidents will have preserved all of the options that are currently available to deal with it.

To the Iranian people, I want to reaffirm what I've said since the beginning of my presidency. We are willing to engage you on the basis of mutual interests and mutual respect.

This deal offers the prospect of relief from sanctions that were imposed because of Iran's violation of international law. Since Iran's supreme leader has issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons, this framework gives Iran the opportunity to verify that it's program is, in fact, peaceful. It demonstrates that if Iran complies with its international obligations, then it can fully rejoin the community of nations, thereby fulfilling the extraordinary talent and aspirations of the Iranian people. That would be good for Iran, and it would be good for the world.

Of course, this deal alone, even if fully implemented, will not end the deep divisions and mistrust between our two countries. We have a difficult history between us.

And our concerns will remain with respect to Iranian behavior so long as Iran continues its sponsorship of terrorism, its support for proxies who destabilize the Middle East, its threats against America's friends and allies, like Israel.

So make no mistake, we will remain vigilant in countering those actions and standing with our allies.

it's no secret that the Israeli prime minister and I don't agree about whether the United States should move forward with a peaceful resolution to the Iranian issue. If in fact Prime Minister Netanyahu is looking for the most effective way to ensure Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon, this is the best option.

And I believe our nuclear experts can confirm that.

More importantly, I will be speaking with the prime minister today to make clear that there will be no daylight, there is no daylight when it comes to our support for Israel's security and our concerns about Iran's destabilizing policies and threats towards Israel.

That's why I've directed my national security team to consult closely with the new Israeli government in the coming weeks and months about how we can further strengthen our long-term security cooperation with Israel and make clear our unshakeable commitment to Israel's defense.

Today, I also spoke with the king of Saudi Arabia, to reaffirm our commitment to the security of our partners in the Gulf. And I am inviting the leaders of the six countries who make up the Gulf Cooperation Council, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain to meet me at Camp David this spring to discuss how we can further strengthen our security cooperation while resolving the multiple conflicts that have caused so much hardship and instability throughout the Middle East.

OBAMA: Finally, it's worth remembering that Congress has, on a bipartisan basis, played a critical role in our current Iran policy, helping to shape the sanctions regime that applied so much pressure on Iran and ultimately forced them to the table.

In the coming days and weeks, my administration will engage Congress once again about how we can play -- how it can play a constructive oversight role. I'll begin that effort by speaking to the leaders of the House and the Senate today.

In those conversations, I will underscore that the issues at stake here are bigger than politics. These are matters of war and peace. And they should be evaluated based on the facts, and what is ultimately best for the American people and for our national security. For, this is not simply a deal between my administration and Iran. This is a deal between Iran, the United States of America and the major powers in the world, including some of our closest allies.

If Congress kills this deal not based on expert analysis, and without offering any reasonable alternative, then it's the United States that will be blamed for the failure of diplomacy. International unity will collapse, and the path to conflict will widen.

The American people understand this, which is why a solid majority support a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian nuclear issue. They understand instinctively the words of President Kennedy, who faced down the far greater threat of Communism, and said, "Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate." The American people remembered that at the height of the Cold War.

Presidents like Nixon and Reagan struck historic arms control agreements with the Soviet Union, a far more dangerous adversary, despite the fact that that adversary not only threatened to destroy our country and our way of life, but had the means to do so.

Those agreements were not perfect. They did not end all threats. But they made our world safer. A good deal with Iran will do the same. Today I'd like to express my thanks to our international partners for their steadfastness, their cooperation.

I was able to speak earlier today with our close allies, Prime Minister Cameron and President Ralon (ph) and Chancellor Merkel, to reaffirm that we stand shoulder-to-shoulder in this effort. And most of all, on behalf of our nation, I want to express my thanks to our tireless -- and I mean tireless -- Secretary of State John Kerry and our entire negotiating team. They have worked so hard to make this progress. They represent the best tradition of American diplomacy.

Their work, our work, is not yet done and success is not guaranteed. But we have a historic opportunity to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in Iran and to do so peacefully, with the international community firmly behind us. We should seize that chance. Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

[14:43:40] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The president of the United States making a strong case for this deal. He says this is a good deal. He says we have achieved a good deal. He said it meets our objectives. He's now back in the Oval Office after making that nearly 20-minute address, not only addressing the American people, concerned members of Congress, but the international community, including critics in Israel as well as some of the Arab states.

Jake Tapper, you were listening very closely to what the president had to say. A lot of details there. The president making the case this is the best option to eliminate the possibility of Iran developing a nuclear weapon. Give it a chance basically. That's what he's saying.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT & CNN ANCHOR, THE LEAD: He did. He did not go into the kind of details that we've seen in the fact sheet White House has provided that goes into details along the lines of the 19,000 centrifuges that Iran has would be reduced to roughly 6,000. But he did go into the broad strokes of an argument as to why it is a good deal, in his view, because Iran will no longer manufacture plutonium, because it will no longer manufacture -- I'm sorry -- enrich uranium. And that there would be a virogous --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: All right, Jake, hold on one second. Because now, Secretary of State John Kerry, he has a statement, then going to take questions from reporters. I want to listen in.

[14:45:13] JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, good evening and -- excuse me -- thank you all very, very much for your patience. Thank you all very, very much for your patience. And I want to start by expressing an enormous thank- you, merci, danka, to the people and the Government of Switzerland for their incredible generosity. The way in which they have welcomed us and the amount of effort is really extraordinary and we're very, very grateful to them.

And throughout this entire process, certainly over the past week, the people of Switzerland have gone above and beyond, in order to facilitate these negotiations. And I don't think anybody could imagine a much more peaceful setting in order to pursue a peaceful path forward. Merci too, en Swiss (ph).

I also want to thank the very other many nations that have provided a home to these negotiations over the past couple of years. People forget that. It's been going on that long. And that includes Austria, which was incredibly generous in hosting our delegation in Vienna for a long period of time.

Oman (ph) which has not only hosted a number of important meetings, but also played a critical role in getting these talks off the ground in the first place. And then, of course, we say thank you to Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, Iraq, and my home country, the United States. I particularly want to thank President Obama. He has been courageous

and determined in his pursuit of a diplomatic path. And from the day that he took office, President Obama has been crystal clear that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a threat to our security and the security of our allies in the region, including Israel.

He has been just as clear that the best and most effective way to prevent that threat is through diplomacy.

The journey forwards a diplomatic solution began years ago. And I can tell you that I've personally been involved about four years, beginning from the time that I was serving in the United States Senate. Others have been on this journey and so many others in our team for even longer than that.

But as Foreign Minister Zarif and High Representative Mogherini announced moments ago, today we have reached a critical milestone in that quest. We, our P5+1, E.U. partners and Iran have arrived at consensus on the key parameters of an arrangement that, once implemented, will give the international community confidence that Iran's nuclear program is and will remain exclusively peaceful.

And over the coming weeks, with all of the conditions of the 2013 Joint Plan of Action still in effect, from this moment forward, our experts will continue to work hard to build on the parameters that we have arrived at today and finalize a comprehensive deal by the end of June.

Now, we have said from the beginning -- and I think you've heard me say it again and again -- that we will not accept just any deal, that we will only accept a good deal. And today, I can tell you that the political understanding, with details, that we have reached is a solid foundation for the good deal that we are seeking.

It is the foundation for a deal that will see Iran reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium by 98 percent for 15 years. It is a deal in which Iran will cut its installed centrifuges by more than two-thirds for ten years.

It is a deal that will increase Iran's breakout time, which was confirmed publicly today to be two to three months. And that is the time that it would take Iran to speed up its enrichment in order to produce enough fissile material for one potential nuclear weapon.

[14:50:00] And that will be expanded now under this deal to one year from those two to three months.

That is, obviously, as much as six times what it is today and what is has been for the past three years

I'd like also to make one more point very, very clear, because it has been misinterpreted and misstated, misrepresented for much of this discussion. There will be no sunset to the deal that we are working to finalize. No sunset, none. The parameters of this agreement will be implemented in phases. Some provisions will be in place for 10 years. Others will be in place for 15 years. Others still will be in place for 25 years. But certain provisions, including many transparency measures, will be in place indefinitely into the future. They will never expire. And the bottom line is that under this arrangement, the international community will have confidence that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively peaceful, providing, of course, that the provisions are adhered to. And if they aren't, we have provisions that empower us to deal with that.

Ultimately, the parameters that we have agreed to will do exactly what we set out to do: make certain that all pathways to make enough fissile material for one nuclear weapon have been cut off, including the Iranian pathway at Natanz, at Fordow, and the plutonium pathway at Arak, and, of course, the covert pathway.

Now, we, our partners and Iran have agreed that the only uranium enrichment facility Iran will operate moving forward will be the facility at Natanz. And even that one will undergo dramatic changes. The vast majority of the centrifuges and their infrastructure will be removed. And for at least the next 15 years, the stockpile will remain at 300 kilograms. And any uranium that is enriched at Natanz will be capped at 3.67 percent, which is a typical level of enrichment for civilian nuclear power, but doesn't even begin to approach the enrichment level necessary for a weapon.

We have agreed that the facility at Fordow will halt all uranium enrichment, period. All uranium enrichment. And, in fact, there will not even be any fissile material present at the site, and no enrichment R&D. Instead, the facility will be converted into a nuclear physics and technology center.

We have also agreed that Iran will redesign and rebuild its heavy water reactor at Arak so that it will no longer produce any weapons grade plutonium. And the United States will be able to sign off, certify the reactor's final design -- redesign. And through international cooperation, it will be transformed into a reactor supporting only peaceful nuclear research and nuclear medicine. And the calandria, (ph) as you heard earlier, will be taken out and destroyed.

We have agreed that Iran will ship all of its spent fuel from the Arak reactor out of the country for the reactor's lifetime. And Iran has agreed to refrain from building any additional heavy water reactors for the next 15 years, at least. "At least" means still open for beyond that period in the course of the next three months.

And we have agreed that Iran will face regular and comprehensive inspections, which is the best possible way to detect any attempt to covertly produce a weapon. Not only will inspectors have regular access to all of Iran's declared facilities indefinitely, but they will also be able to monitor the facilities that produce the centrifuges themselves, and the uranium that supports the nuclear program. And they will be able to do that for at least 20 years. This critical step will help to guard against diversion of those materials to any clandestine location or plant.

[14:55:19] In addition, Iran has agreed to allow IAEA to investigate any suspicious site or any allegations of covert nuclear activities anywhere.

So these are just a few of the key -- and I mean a few -- of the key measures that will make up an extraordinarily comprehensive monitoring and transparency regime when and if it is finally signed and completed over the course of the next months.

Now, we have been very clear both publicly and privately, a final agreement will not rely on promises. It will rely on proof. It is important to note that Iran to date has honored all of the commitments that it made under the joint plan of action that we agreed to in 2013. And I ask you to think about that against the backdrop of those who predicted that it would fail and not get the job done.

And in return for Iraq's future cooperation, we and our international partners will provide relief in phases from the sanctions that have impacted Iran's economy. And if we find at any point that Iran is not complying with this agreement, the sanctions can snap back into place.

So together, these parameters outline a reasonable standard that Iran can readily meet and it is the standard that Iran has now agreed to meet. Throughout history, diplomacy has been necessary to prevent wars and to define international boundaries, to design institutions and to develop global norms. Simply demanding that Iran capitulate makes a nice soundbite, but it's not a policy.

It is not a realistic plan. So the true measure of this understanding is not whether it meets all the desires of one side at the expense of the other. The test is whether or not it will leave the world safer or more secure than it would be without this agreement. And there can be no question that the comprehensive plan that we are moving toward will more than pass that test.

This isn't just my assessment. It isn't just the assessment of the United States delegation and our experts. It is the assessment of every one of our P-5-plus-1 partners who stood up here a little while ago in front of the flags of their nations. It is the assessment of our negotiating partners: Germany, the U.K., China, France, and Russia. And all of our experts who have analyzed every aspect of this issue also join in that assessment.

From the beginning, we have negotiated as a team and we are all agreed that this is the best outcome achievable -- no viable alternatives, not one would be nearly as effective at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon than -- over a period of time -- than the parameters, providing they get completed and are signed.

Our political understanding arrived at today opens the door for a long-term resolution to the international community's concerns about Iran's nuclear program. Now, we have no illusions about the fact that we still have a ways to travel before we'll arrive at the destination that we seek. We still have many technical details to work out on both sides, and still some other issues that we acknowledge still have to be resolved.

For example, the duration of the U.N. arms and ballistic missile restrictions on Iran and the precise timing of and mechanism for the conversion of the Arak reactor and Fordow site. And of course, once we're able to finalize a comprehensive deal, the process of implementation then remains in front of us as well.

But that's a good challenge to have, frankly. Throughout this negotiation, we have made a diligent effort to consult with our allies, our partners, including Israel, and the Gulf States. And we have vigorously reaffirmed our enduring commitment to their security.

[15:00:01] No one should mistake that.