US to ‘walk away’ if verifiable Iran deal not sealed

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama assured in a taped television interview Sunday that the US was prepared to “walk away” from nuclear talks with Iran if a verifiable deal cannot be reached with Tehran.
Obama made the comments Saturday as US Secretary of State John Kerry was in Paris to smooth over differences with France.
“If there is no deal then we walk away,” Obama said in the interview, which aired on CBS News.
“If we cannot verify that they are not going to obtain a nuclear weapon, that there’s a breakout period so that even if they cheated we would be able to have enough time to take action — if we don’t have that kind of deal, then we’re not going to take it,” he said.
Obama said progress has been made “in narrowing the gaps, but those gaps still exist. “And I would say that over the next month or so, we’re going to be able to determine whether or not their system is able to accept what would be an extraordinarily reasonable deal, if in fact, as they say, they are only interested in peaceful nuclear programs.
“And if we have unprecedented transparency in that system, if we are able to verify that in fact they are not developing weapons systems, then there’s a deal to be had, but that’s going to require them to accept the kind of verification and constraints on their program that so far, at least, they have not been willing to say yes to.”