US President Barack Obama is warning Tehran not to walk away from agreements made in principle in Lausanne, Switzerland, back in April, as diplomats try to reach a common, final text of an historic nuclear deal based on those agreements.
In Lausanne on April 2, world powers and Iran announced a series of political settlements they said would ultimately govern a comprehensive nuclear accord. Negotiators from those countries are now in Vienna to hammer out that final deal.
But Obama, speaking from the East Room of the White House on Tuesday, said that "a lot of talk on the other side from the Iranian negotiators" in recent days suggested they were straying from the framework.
"The framework agreement that was established at Lausanne was one that, if implemented," he said, "would in fact achieve my goal."
But if Iran cannot abide by the framework, the US president said, "that's going to be a problem."
"I will walk away from the negotiations if, in fact, its a bad deal," he said. "If the verification regime is inadequate, then we're not going to get a deal."
Speaking to a small group of reporters in the Austrian capital on Monday, one senior administration official said— in English and in Farsi, through an aide— that the Lausanne framework could not be edited as negotiations entered their final stage.
"There wasn't paper out of Lausanne. You didn't have a text. You had parameters," the official said, on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.
"You are going to have a text," the official added, noting the "staggeringly consequential" nature of the deal they are about to broker. "It will be evident to everyone what has been agreed."
The United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany are negotiating with Iran to cap, restrict, monitor and partially roll back its nuclear program for a finite period, in exchange for sanctions relief.
Obama made his remarks in a joint press conference in Washington with President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil.
"Ultimately, this is going to be up to the Iranians," Obama said.
By Michael Wilner
