Obama, aides and critics campaign on Iran deal

WASHINGTON -- As negotiators work on the fine print of an Iran nuclear agreement, President Obama, his aides, and his critics are campaigning for public and political support of the deal.

In a series of talk shows and public remarks, Obama and aides say the proposed agreement is the best alternative to war with Iran, and that it will require intense inspections of Iranian nuclear programs.

The critics are also hitting the nation's airwaves, saying the framework outlined last week leaves the Iranian infrastructure in place and that leaders in Tehran could all too easily evade inspections in the pursuit of nuclear weapons.

"This deal will both threaten us and threaten our neighbors," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview Sunday on CNN's State of the Union.

In his weekend radio address, Obama said the nuclear agreement will deny Iran the plutonium and enriched uranium production it would need to produce weapons. He also said that international inspectors will have "unprecedented access" to Iran's nuclear facilities.

"If Iran cheats, the world will know it," Obama said. "If we see something suspicious, we will inspect it."

Officials spoke just days after the U.S., allies, and Iran announced the framework of a deal in which the allies would reduce economic sanctions on Iran if it gives up the means to make nuclear weapons.

The parties will now try to work out the details of a final agreement, and have set a deadline of June 30.

In the meantime, supporters and critics will be making cases for and against the Iran deal.

One prominent arena: Congress. Republicans who control both the Senate and the House say they want Congress to approve any final agreement, a move the Obama administration has suggested it would veto.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted that Iranian and American officials have provided different interpretations of what the framework says, including the question of when sanctions relief for Iran would actually take place.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Corker said he has questions about that and other "red flags," including how the allies could track any "covert activity" by Iran.

These are among the reasons "why it's so important that Congress play its rightful role in approving this" before the "sanctions that we put in place are alleviated," Corker told Fox.

Netanyahu, in television appearances that included NBC's Meet The Press and ABC's This Week, said the agreement could actually set off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. The Israeli leader also said the deal does not address Iran's intercontinental missile development.

Suggesting an alternative, Netanyahu said the U.S. and its allies should intensify economic sanctions on Iran in order to force it to give up more of its nuclear program. He also questioned the effectiveness of inspections, saying Iran has cheated in the past.

"I'm not trying to kill any deal," Netanyahu said on NBC. "I'm trying to kill a bad deal."

Netanyahu, who addressed Congress about Iran last month, also said the framework will lift sanctions on Iran too quickly, improving its economy. He told ABC that Iranian leaders will use the new money "to pump up their terror machine worldwide."

For its part, Iran says that its nuclear program is designed for peaceful energy production, and that the sanctions have unfairly damaged their economy.

The Obama administration is responding to criticism of the deal with a variety of officials. They range from Secretary of State John Kerry -- who led the U.S. negotiating team during talks in Switzerland -- to technical experts.

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, a nuclear physicist who also participated in the talks, said on CBS' Face The Nation that the framework addresses Netanyahu's concerns.

For one thing, he said, it expands the "turnaround time" -- the amount of time it would take Iran to actually develop a bomb -- from two months to at least a year. "So that's when the sanctions relief will really kick in," Moniz said.

Obama, Kerry, Vice President Biden and other administration officials are also selling the Iran deal by working the phones, speaking with congressional leaders, media surrogates and other world leaders.

The administration picked up one notable endorsement Sunday: Pope Francis. Delivering his Easter message at the Vatican, Francis said he prays that the new framework "may be a definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world."

In his radio address, Obama said he would keep Congress and the American people "fully briefed on the substance of the deal" and that be expects a "robust debate" in the months ahead.

Obama also stressed that the only alternatives would be bombing Iran's nuclear facilities, probably leading to a war, or doing nothing and "hoping for the best" with continuing sanctions.

"As President and Commander in Chief, I firmly believe that the diplomatic option -- a comprehensive, long-term deal like this -- is by far the best option," Obama said. "For the United States. For our allies. And for the world."