President Obama admitted Tuesday in a broadcast interview that his
nuclear agreement with Iran only delays Tehran from eventually acquiring
a weapon, which could come immediately after Year 13 of the agreement
-- leaving the problem for future presidents.
Obama made the comments about Tehran's so-called "breakout time" in
an interview with NPR News that aired Tuesday morning. The president was
attempting to answer the charge that the deal framework agreed upon by
the U.S., Iran, and five other nations last week fails to eliminate the
risk of Iran getting a nuclear weapon because it allows Tehran to keep
enriching uranium.
Obama said that Iran would be capped for a decade at 300 kilograms of
uranium -- not enough to convert to a stockpile of weapons-grade
material.
"What is a more relevant fear would be that in Year 13, 14, 15, they
have advanced centrifuges that enrich uranium fairly rapidly, and at
that point, the breakout times would have shrunk almost down to zero,"
Obama said.
The stark admission -- after his energy secretary even claimed the
deal was a "forever agreement" -- came as the president seeks to quiet a
growing chorus questioning whether the deal he and world leaders have
negotiated merely delays the certainty of a nuclear-armed Iran. Obama
has insisted confidently that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon on his
watch, which ends in roughly 20 months, but has made no similar
assurances about his successors.
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