U.S. President Barack Obama defended his high-stakes nuclear accord with Iran on Wednesday, and said without a deal there will be more risk of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East during.
Without the deal, the world would risk “even more war in the Middle East,” and there will be increased chances of an arms race, leaving open the possibility of Iran coming closer to having a nuclear weapon, Obama said during an East Room news conference.
He warned that the deal shouldn’t be allowed to “slip away” because the opportunity “may not come again in our lifetime.”
He said the deal cuts off every single one of Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapons program.
Meanwhile, Obama said: “Even with this deal, we will continue to have profound differences with Iran” with respect to “its support of terrorism and its use of proxies to destabilize parts of the Middle East.”
He added: “Iran still poses challenges to our interests and values.”
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