President Obama will hold a press conference about the nuclear agreement with Iran. We'll liveblog it here.
10:04 AM PT: For background on the deal, see this post from Meteor Blades, who also has a good takedown of Republican talking points on the deal.
10:19 AM PT: No, you haven't missed anything yet. It still hasn't started.
10:26 AM PT: And we start. "Yesterday was an historic day," the President start. "It shows what we can accomplish when we lead from a position of strength...." He's already reached out to congressional leadership, expects a "robust" debate.
See the rest of the liveblog below the fold.
10:28 AM PT: "The details matter very much.... but I hope we don't lose sight of the larger picture." This deal "cuts off every single one of Iran's pathways to Iran's...nuclear weapons program." "We gain unprecedented around-the-clock monitoring" of Iran's nuclear program."
10:30 AM PT: This represents a peaceful opportunity to halt nuclear proliferation in the region. "We will continue to have profound differences with Iran." Arms embargo will continue, as will other sanctions for at least five years. Bottom line, this agreement prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. It makes the world more secure.
10:32 AM PT: "This deal is our best means for ensuring Iran does not get a nuclear weapon." Now he goes to questions. First one from AFP, on Iran's stability and moderation.
10:34 AM PT: Obama reiterates what's at stake: the starting premise of our strategy has been that it would be a grave threat to the U.S. and our allies if they obtained a nuclear weapon." That's what he's been working on the whole of his administration. The premise has always been to prevent nuclear Iran, a "narrow but profound issue."
10:34 AM PT: Points out that this has also been Netanyahu's priority, as well as previous bipartisan U.S. presidential administrations'.
10:38 AM PT: "Even if Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon, it still poses challenges to ourselves and our values around the world." If the deal is implemented, we will have dismantled the immediate concerns on the nuclear front, and Iran will be subjected to vigorous monitoring basically forever. "Nuclear experts can say with confidence that Iran will not be in a position to make a nuclear bomb." We'll still have problems with Iran's sponsorship of terrorism in the region, and this deal will allow the administration to build on it for further negotiations with Iran to make it behave.
10:40 AM PT: Deal is not contingent on making Iran behave, but it'll be easier to put a check on its activities if they don't have the bomb. "Will we seek to gain more cooperation with them" in the region? "We'll continue to engage with them." This isn't like Cuba, we're not normalizing. We're not betting on Iran behaving, but that's not an argument for rejecting this deal. "That defies logic."
10:41 AM PT: Does praise from Syria or Iranian hardliners and criticism from congressional GOP "give you pause"?
10:41 AM PT: No. It does not give him pause that politicians are spinning this the way their supporters want to hear.
10:43 AM PT: Hopes that Congress evaluates this based on the facts, not on politics and on posturing. Not based on lobbying but based on what's in the best interest of the country. "But we live in Washington, and politics do intrude. I'm not betting on the Republican Party rallying behind this agreement."
10:46 AM PT: Israel has legitimate security concerns, but "all those threats are compounded if Iran gets a nuclear weapon," and no one has proposed a better alternative. "I'm hearing a lot of talking points about this being an historically bad deal, there's been a lot of that. What I haven't heard is what is your proposed alternative."
10:49 AM PT: There are just two alternatives: Either we resolve this through negotiation or we resolve it through war. Those are the choices. Could there have been a better deal? One that takes all nukes away from Iran--the problem is that that isn't going to happen. "So, we don't have diplomatic leverage to eliminate every vestige of a peaceful nuclear program in Iran, but we do have the leverage to make sure they don't have a nuclear weapon." Back to critics, ask them to read the agreement and come back with why all the nuclear experts are wrong and what their alternatives are. And if their alternative is war, stand behind it.
10:51 AM PT: There will be 24/7 monitoring of entire infrastructure that has been declared. Inspections across the development chain will make it extremely difficult to develop a covert program. But if Iran is so determined that it will operate covertly, the IAEA will have the ability to intervene where they see suspicious activity and inspect. The U.S. can override Iran's objections to those inspections. If they continue to object, U.S. can start reimposing sanctions.
10:57 AM PT: Next question on arms and ballistic missile embargoes being lifted and chance arms will go to Hezbollah or other groups. Obama says that's an ongoing concern, and it is a priority to prevent. Says there are mechanisms under international law giving us ability to interrupt those shipments, the original UN resolution of sanctions addressed this. Because Iran has "breached trust" U.S. negotiators got an extension of the embargo on conventional arms.
11:00 AM PT: We've had "belts and suspenders and buttons" of legal authorities to interdict those arms. That gives us authority, along with allies, under international law to prevent the shipments from happening. "I share the concerns [in the region] about Iran shipping arms," so is urging partners in the region to double down on intelligence and monitoring on that front so that we can use the legal authorities that we have under existing international law.
11:04 AM PT: Meanwhile, the traditional media is getting a little whiny that President Obama is taking the time to give long, comprehensive answers.
11:09 AM PT: Q from Major Garritt: What about the four Americans being held in Iran? Why don't you care about them? Why have you ignored them? "The notion that I am content as I celebrate while Americans languish in Iranian jails? That's nonsense and you should know better."
11:10 AM PT: If the question is why we didn't tie their release to this negotiation is that would have given Iran incentive to create more hurdles. If we had walked away from this deal, we would be working just as hard to get them out.
11:16 AM PT: Next Q about race and criminal justice reform, what are his goals in the last year and a half of his tenure, and what about Bill Cosby's Medal of Freedom. Obama refers to big speech yesterday, his ongoing work with Eric Holder and now Loretta Lynch. The criminal justice system is a key part of injustice and racial tension, but it's not the sole problem. The huge spike in incarcerations is driven by non-violent drug offenses where sentencing is out of proportion to the crime. It has debilitated communities and the individuals, compounding problems communities already have. We need reforms for mandatory minimums as well as rehab and reentry programs. We could have "significant bipartisan legislation" in this area, as he calls out efforts between Dem and GOP senators.
11:21 AM PT: No precedent for revoking a Medal of Freedom. We don't have a mechanism. No comment on it as a legal matter, but "If you give a woman or a man for that matter, w/out his or her knowledge and have sex with them w/out consent, that's rape. We should have no tolerance for rape."
11:25 AM PT: Q--does Iran have a cash windfall and are you not concerned that they'll spend it on arming terrorists in the region? Obama says they will have to spend domestically because their economy has tanked under sanctions, so politically they have to do some spending on infrastructure, education, etc. It's a "likelihood" that they have some additional resources for defense and for support of Hezbollah, but it's not a "game-changer." The incremental additional money they have to try to destabilize the region is not more important than Iran gaining a nuclear weapon. Again, about the priority of preventing Iranian nukes.
11:30 AM PT: On the argument against it that the deal holds for 10 years and at that time some of the restrictions are lifted, it all ends. It doesn't. The inspections keep happening, the UN resolutions stay in place, "there's no scenario in which a U.S. President is not in a stronger position" ten or 15 years from now if Iran violates them.