Barack Obama heralded the nuclear deal with Iran stating the pact ensuring Tehran does not acquire a nuclear bomb was based on verification and not on trust as he warned the Congress that he will veto any legislation aimed at scuttling the agreement.
Hailing the landmark nuclear deal with Iran, US President Barack Obama today said the pact ensuring Tehran does not acquire a nuclear bomb was based on verification and not on trust as he warned the Congress that he will veto any legislation aimed at scuttling the agreement.
"After two years of negotiations, the United States, together with our international partners, has achieved something that decades of animosity has not: a comprehensive long-term deal with Iran that will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Obama told reporters at the White House.
Led by the United States the so-called P5+1 countries -- the US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany -- reached the landmark agreement with Iran after more than 20 months of intense negotiations, mostly held in Vienna or Geneva.
Obama, in a rare early morning statement, asserted that this deal has achieved what the US and the international community wanted from day one -- to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. For the next 15 years, Iran will not build any nuclear weapons, Obama said at the White House with Vice President Joe Biden standing by his side.
Because of this deal, Obama said Iran will remove two thirds of its installed centrifuges, the machines necessary to produce highly enriched uranium for a bomb and store them under constant international supervision.
Iran will not use its advanced centrifuges to produce enriched uranium for the next decade. Iran will also get rid of 98%of its stockpile of enriched uranium, he said.
Obama said because of this deal the international community will for the first time be in a position to verify all of Iranian commitments. "That means this deal is not built on trust. It is built on verification. Inspectors will have 24/7 access to Iran's nuclear facilities. Iran will have access to Iran's entire nuclear supply chain, its uranium mines and mills, its conversion facility and its centrifuge manufacturing and storage facilities," he said.
"Today, because America negotiated from a position of strength and principle, we have stopped the spread of nuclear weapons in this region. Because of this deal, the international community will be able to verify that the Islamic Republic of Iran will not develop a nuclear weapon," Obama said.
The US President asserted that under the deal every pathway to a nuclear weapon is cut off and the inspection and transparency regime necessary to verify that objective will be put in place. Well aware of the challenge that he faces in the Congress where Democrats are in a minority, Obama said, "I will veto any legislation that prevents the successful implementation of this deal."
Watch: Obama speaks on the historic deal:
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 "Barack Obama, Iran Nuclear Deal, Iran, White House, US Congress, Washington, Tehran, United States (US), United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), Britain, France, Russia, China , Germany")
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