NEW YORK TIMES: President Obama strongly defended last week’s preliminary agreement with Iran as a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to curb the spread of nuclear weapons in a dangerous region while reassuring critics that he would keep all options available if Tehran ultimately cheated.
As he sought in an interview with The New York Times to sell the tentative deal to skeptics accusing him of giving away too much, Mr. Obama emphasized to Israel that “we’ve got their backs” in the face of Iranian hostility. And he suggested that he could accept some sort of vote in Congress if it did not block his ability to carry out the agreement…
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a possible Republican presidential candidate, said it was “probably the best deal that Barack Obama could get with the Iranians because the Iranians don’t fear” him. “Hillary Clinton could do better,” he added, as could all the Republican candidates, “except maybe Rand Paul.” But Mr. Graham said he would wait to see how the final agreement looked. “I don’t mind giving the administration the time between now and June to put this deal together,” he said on “Face the Nation” on CBS…
In the interview, the president struck a conciliatory note after weeks of open tension with Mr. Netanyahu, a clash that has worried even some White House advisers. Mr. Obama said “I respect” Mr. Netanyahu’s security argument and agreed that Israelis “have every right to be concerned about Iran,” a country that has threatened “to destroy Israel, that has denied the Holocaust, that has expressed venomous anti-Semitic ideas.” … (more)
