President Obama fights back against Israeli critics of Iran nuclear deal [View all]

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US president says framework is ‘once-in-lifetime’ chance to prevent Iran getting nuclear weapon and pledges to support Israel’s defences

President Barack Obama has answered continuing Israeli criticism of the framework agreement over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, telling the New York Times the deal is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see whether or not we can at least take the nuclear issue off the table”.

The president added: “There is no formula, there is no option, to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon that will be more effective than the diplomatic initiative and framework that we put forward – and that’s demonstrable.”

Two days after the announcement of the deal between Iran and the major world powers – achieved in Switzerland after 18 months of talks and which must be finalised by the end of June – Obama spoke to the New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman at the White House for an interview that was published online on Sunday.

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“There has to be the ability for me to disagree with a policy on settlements, for example, without being viewed as ... opposing Israel,” Obama said. “There has to be a way for Prime Minister Netanyahu to disagree with me on policy without being viewed as anti-Democrat.”

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/06/barack-obama-fights-back-against-israeli-critics-of-iran-nuclear-deal?CMP=edit_2221

President Obama talks to Tom Friedman
Great job Sir
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/opinion/thomas-friedman-the-obama-doctrine-and-iran-interview.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0