Skip to footer

Obama: US willing to 'walk away' from Iran nuclear talks

Obama told CBS that any deal struck with Iran on its nuclear capabilities must allow Western powers to verify that Tehran isn't going to obtain an atomic weapon.

|
Inform
President Barack Obama said Sunday that the United States and Iran have narrowed their differences in nuclear weapons negotiations. In the face of a renewed Republican warning that any deal will face a tough congressional review, the President said in an interview with CBS News, quote: "We have made progress in narrowing the gaps, but those gaps still exist."
  • By Editors Associated Press

| Washington, D.C.

President Barack Obama says the United States would "walk away" from nuclear talks with Iran if there's no acceptable deal.

Obama says any agreement must allow Western powers to verify that Tehran isn't going to obtain an atomic weapon, and that even if Iran "cheated," the U.S. and others would have "enough time to take action."

The president tells CBS' "Sunday Morning" that "if we don't have that kind of deal, then we're not going to take it."

Big gaps remain to bridge if the sides are to reach a deal by the end of March deadline set by negotiators. The next round of talks is set to begin March 15.

Iran says the program is peaceful and exists only to produce energy for civilian use.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is insisting that Congress have a chance to review and vote on any deal, but acknowledges that he doesn't 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. 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," McConnell told CBS' "Face the Nation."

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Obama: US willing to 'walk away' from Iran nuclear talks
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2015/0308/Obama-US-willing-to-walk-away-from-Iran-nuclear-talks
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe